


Maybe We Just Don’t Talk About It

by thestarkbitchtumblr



Series: Maybe We Just Don't Talk About It [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drunken sex, E+C however does, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gendry is an anthropology TA, Gendrya - Freeform, Gilly is kinda OOC, I’m gonna sit down and shut up now k enjoy, Modern AU, One Night Stand, R+L does not equal J, Robert Baratheon is insanely OOC, She’s more playful and suggestive, Teacher!Gendry, Teacher-Student Relationship, University AU, also Jaime and Cersei were never a thing, also Jon and Robb are twins, also Robert is referred to as Bob fairly frequently, and Arya is in his major, and Robert is just an middle aged mellow dude, and actually worked on their drinking problems, and also Joffrey is OOC, and asia with essos, and ignore geography, and the “Baratheon” kids are actual Baratheons, as is cersei, bc I didn’t feel like writing mean!Cat into this, bc like Eddard vs Ned, but Robert and Cersei have been in AA for 21 years, but yeah Cersei is essentially Lena Headey but sober, if you look close enough you can see all the fuckshit, if you’re feeling casual, it’s like if they actually loved each other, like just replace europe with westeros, lmao can you tell I’m an anthro nerd, mechanic!Gendry, neither of these sluts knows how to deal with sexual attraction, or N+C equals J, so be ready for that, so let’s just pretend that the real world is somehow working in tandem with westeros, so they’re a lot more peaceful, social and cultural anthropology, social consequences ensue, this is that fic, what the fuck even are these tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2020-03-13 21:44:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 68,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18949249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestarkbitchtumblr/pseuds/thestarkbitchtumblr
Summary: How hard is it to return a shirt to the TA in your major after your drunken one night stand? If you’re Arya Stark, the answer ispretty fuckin hard.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character ages:
> 
> Arya Stark - 18  
> Gendry Waters - 23  
> Robb Stark - 24  
> Jon Stark - 24  
> Talisa Maegyr - 27  
> Ygritte Snow - 21  
> Sansa Stark - 20  
> Bran Stark - 16  
> Rickon Stark - 14  
> Gilly Craster - 20  
> Sam Tarly - 23  
> Mya Waters - 25  
> Edric Waters - 22  
> Charlie "Hot Pie" Dixon - 18  
> Callom "Lommy" Becker - 19  
> Willow Heddle - 22  
> Bella Rivers - 23

When Arya woke up, it was still dark out. She winced as she began to feel her head throbbing with the beginnings of a hangover while she blinked the drunkenness and sleep out of her eyes. An alarm clock across the room that was definitely not her own read 4:37am in bright red lettering. _I still have time to sleep in a bit,_ she thought to herself, lowering her head back onto a stranger’s pillow. She was getting settled back in when she noticed the watch strapped to the wrist of the muscled arm that was draped casually over her naked torso. It was a digital watch, lots of tiny buttons and features, but what struck her the most was how it was bright yellow, a watch color that she had only ever seen her social and cultural anthropology TA, Gendry Waters, wear.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck._

Arya turned her head over slowly and carefully, and began to curse herself even louder in her mind as she realized that the man she’d spent the night with was none other than the man who TA’d for her major. A class that she had in four and a half hours.

Slowly and carefully, Arya removed herself from the clusterfuck of sheets on his full sized bed and gathered her clothes which lay in a pile in the center of the small room. She quickly slid on her panties, jeans, shoes, and bra, yet to her great panic and dismay, she couldn’t locate her shirt.

“ _Shit!_ ” She whispered, looking around the tiny bedroom for the red top she’d come in with. She would’ve spent more time looking, but Gendry began to stir, so she just grabbed one of his t-shirts that had been tossed next to her own clothes and booked it out of the apartment.

Arya Stark pulled her phone out of her purse and called herself an uber as soon as she was outside of the apartment building. A man listed as “Tom Sevens” pulled up in a silver Nissan Versa across the street a few minutes later, and she climbed into the backseat before he even had a chance to put it in park.

“You doin’ alright, miss?” He asked as she rubbed her temples. Arya glanced up at the driver, his brows furrowed in concern. She offered him a polite smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little hungover. Thanks for getting here so quick.” She replied gratefully. When he pulled up outside of her dorm, she tipped him probably a little too generously, but she was too tired and hungover to care. Arya practically crawled back to her dorm room and barely managed to set her alarm for 8:55 before hitting the pillows and falling into a deep slumber.

+

“Arya!” The brown haired Stark jolted awake as her roommate, Gilly, shook her, just noticing the blaring sound of her alarm that was coming from her phone.

“I’m up, I’m up!” She mumbled as she reached to turn off her alarm.

“It’s 9:05, you’re late for your anthro class!” Gilly said, and Arya shot up in her bed.

“Shit!” She swore, hurrying to stuff her laptop into her bag, thankful that she hadn’t bothered to remove her shoes last night. “Thanks Gil!” She tossed over her shoulder as she ran out of their room. Arya ran down the stairs, out of the building, and across the green to the Tarly building of social sciences at Oldtown University. She slipped into the classroom reading “Social and Cultural Anthropology w/ Dr. Barristan Selmy”, hoping that Professor Selmy wouldn’t notice.

“Ah, there she is! You’re late, Arya, tsk tsk.” To her dismay, it wasn’t even Selmy there that day. It was fucking Gendry leading the lecture, and _goddamn_ , he was looking way too good for a nine AM. She sighed as she closed the door, her face red as a beet as her classmates teased her as she was always early or on time, yet somehow Gendry didn’t seem to be at all bothered. Maybe he just didn’t remember that it was her who spent the night at his place. Honestly, it was for the best. She wished that she could forget it, but moments from their drunken encounter last night were coming back to her and _Jesus H. Christ_ , now was not the time to be thinking of how big he was and how good he felt inside her.

Theirs was a small class, only about twenty people in the major, but it was a classroom built for a much larger group of people, making it impossible for Arya to get away with sitting in the back without her classmates knowing that something was up, so she shamefully slunk over to her usual seat in the front row.

“Where’s Selmy?” She asked as she pulled out her laptop, pulling up the notes application.

“He’s out with a family emergen—“ Gendry stopped, his brows furrowing as he focused his attention on something on Arya’s shirt before pointing it out. “Where’d you get that shirt?” He asked. Her cheeks went bright red as she looked down on the logo, having forgotten that it was Gendry’s fucking shirt. The logo read _Mott’s auto shop_ , a place she remembered him talking about once. Of fucking course she couldn’t have grabbed any plain old t-shirt, she had to grab the one that he’d gotten from his high school place of employment in King’s fucking Landing, a place that she’d only been to once as a little kid, _fucking fuck!_

“A, uh, friend gave it to me.” She said, scratching her head as she noticed the realization spread across his face, his cheeks reddening. Gendry cleared his throat as he turned around, focusing his attention back to the lecture.

“R-Right, so last class we uh, left off with a discussion of the area of inquiry in Anne Fadiman’s ethnographic text, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. C-Can anyone remember what that was?” He asked, the nervousness seeping into his voice, clearly having just been knocked off his game.

“Health, illness, and healing.” Arya spoke out clearly, making eye contact with him, the two of them coming to a silent agreement: _Don’t let them think that anything’s wrong._ Gendry nodded, a glint of gratefulness sparkling in his blue eyes before he continued.

“That’s correct. So, today we’ll be going over what will be expected of you over the coming months as we study the culture of the Hmong and how their practices of treating illness has been impacted by a majority of their population’s relocation to the United States after the Vietnam War.” The rest of the class went by without incident. Gendry was back to poking fun at the students, excited and energetic, about ten minutes after the awkward realization that he’d gotten drunk and fucked one of them. When class let out, all the students began to put their laptops back in their bags and head out. Charlie Dixon and Callom Becker, better known among the students as Hot Pie and Lommy, were poking fun at Arya for her unusual lateness as the trio began to head out.

“Arya, could I see you for a minute?” Gendry called from his desk, eyeing the two guys next to her with a sort of nervousness. Arya stuck her tongue against the inside of her cheek as she nodded.

“Don’t wait up, guys, I’ll meet you on the lawn in a few.” She said, earning a nod from her friends as they left the classroom.

“Close the door.” Gendry said, his voice strained. Arya nodded as she complied before walking over to the desk where he sat. He was rubbing his temples as she pulled up a chair.

“About last night.” He said. _About last night_. Those were the words that ended careers, friendships, and even some marriages. Arya inhaled sharply as she began to nod. “Look, you and I are both adults, and we did what adults do. And I don’t regret it, I had a good time, but it is with a great deal of humility and shame that I ask that we keep what happened last night between us.” Gendry’s professional facade was starting to crack and crumble, and suddenly, he was just a man fearing for the security of his job. Arya felt her heart softening as she hurried to reassure his peace of mind.

“Oh god, of course! I think my roommate knows that I spent the night with someone, but nobody at this university will know that it was you.” Gendry sighed in relief at her assurances before his brows furrowed again.

“Not to sound accusatory, but why did you take my shirt?” He asked, and she looked down at his t-shirt for a moment, almost confused before she looked back up at him. It looked ridiculously large on her, but she didn’t look bad. She pulled off the sleepy-hungover chic look, if that was ever a thing.

“I wasn’t planning on taking your shirt, truly. Or anything of yours, for that matter. I woke up around 4:30, and when I realized that it was you that I’d spent the night with, I tried to skedaddle as quickly as possible without waking you up, but I couldn’t find my shirt, and you were stirring, so I just grabbed one of yours and left.” She paused as he nodded in understanding. There was a lull in the conversation before Arya started smiling and spoke up again.

“I mean, it’s not something we should regret. You had a good time, I had a good time, but that’s all it was and all it needs to be. Like you said, we’re both adults and we did what adults do, and now we will continue to do what adults do in our situation: never speak about it again and pray that we can fix what’s left of our professional relationship.” She said, smiling, earning her a laugh from Gendry.

“Sounds good to me. Thanks Arya. I really appreciate it.” He said, smiling gratefully. Arya returned the grin before grabbing her bag and standing up.

“Will that be all, Mr. Waters?” She teased, earning a chuckle from the TA. He nodded as she began to leave.

“You’re free to go, Ms. Stark.” He said as she giggled softly, heading for the door.

“Later,” She said as she turned to leave the classroom, giving her typical two finger salute as she slipped out of the door, closing it behind herself.

+

Gendry pinched the bridge of his nose as he scrunched his brows and forehead after she left. He tried to walk through in his mind how he’d gone from innocent drinks to fucking his student, who was in the goddamn major.

His younger brother, Edric, had gotten a job as a CFO for Storm’s End Inc., so they’d gone to the Peach to celebrate. Ned had to get on a call around 10:30, so he’d left early. Gendry remembered that he was nursing a beer, probably his seventh or eighth drink of the night and eyeing a petite woman who was doing shots down the bar. After the fifth and final shot was downed, she started giving high fives to the people around her while Gendry approached her. Did he even know it was Arya? He must have. Yeah, he did recognize her, just not necessarily as his student. She was just a woman that he knew named Arya Stark and she was looking really good with her drunken swaying to the music. They’d started talking— that he knew. But what had they talked about? Gendry couldn’t even begin to remember. All he really knew was that she’d started tracing her fingertips up and down his forearms and before he knew it, they were dancing and grinding to the music and he couldn’t care about anything beyond the feel of her ass grinding up against him, the way she bit her lower lip as she grinned and laced her fingers in with his as he held her hips. They’d started kissing at some point, and perhaps a small part of him was screaming to stop, that knew that it was wrong, but _Jesus fuck_ , she’d grabbed his cock and looked at him with those big grey eyes that screamed mischief, and he was gone. He wasn’t sure which one of them called the uber, but he was certain that the driver hadn’t appreciated the way they’d been kissing and groping all over the backseat throughout the ride. When they got back to his apartment, they wasted no time. She’d dropped something on the ground next to the door as soon as it was shut, probably her purse, and she’d smiled against his lips when he’d grabbed her ass. Arya had gasped as if in surprise when he picked her up, but she’d still reacted instantly, wrapped her legs tight around his waist as he held her against a wall to leave a hot and breathy open mouthed kiss to her neck, which made her gasp again. Some point fairly soon after that, they’d gotten to the bedroom where he’d set her back down on her feet. She’d kicked off her shoes, and he discarded his shirt, she’d wriggled out of her pants, and freed him of his. She had pushed him backwards onto his bed once he was only in his briefs. He’d simply watched in amazement as she slipped her bra off from under her shirt and how she’d wriggled out of her panties. No, she hadn’t kept her shirt on. Right? Well, by the time she was fitting the condom onto his length, she’d been entirely naked. He’d have to look for her shirt when he got home, as he suspected he wouldn’t be getting his Mott’s auto shop tee back before that. After that, it was all incredibly heated and frenzied sex until it was just sleep, which Gendry knew better than to think about in great detail, lest he start lusting after his most engaged student on a regular basis.

The embarrassing part of it all was that he hadn’t even realized that it was Arya when he’d woken up. That part hadn’t come back to him, not yet. He’d simply woken up feeling well fucked and relatively hungover; overall, he was at a solid 8/10. The Advil and a great deal of water fixed that up quickly, and one black coffee and a cold shower later, it was time to head over to Tarly to prepare for the day’s lecture. He’d been excited about leading two weeks of solo classes. Poor Barristan’s elderly mother had broken her hip and fractured two ribs when she’d tried to go down a flight of stairs solo, so he’d flown back home to be with her. Gendry probably shouldn’t have felt as excited as he did about it, considering the fact that an elderly woman had been injured to get him those solo classes, but he decided not to think about it too much. He’d set up early, and for the first three minutes of the nine AM, he’d simply been joking around with his students. A lot of them were poking fun at Arya, who, for the first time in the three months that the school year had been going on, had never once been late. At around 9:10, she’d shown up, hair a mess, face red from embarrassment, and Gendry decided to call her out a bit, teasing her with the fact that she was late. It wasn’t until she’d sat down that he noticed the big logo across the chest of her ridiculously oversized t-shirt. _Mott’s auto shop_. The place he’d worked for all four years that he’d been in high school in the sketchier parts of King’s Landing. Arya was from the North, how or why would she have ever gotten a t-shirt from Mott’s? It was the awkward way she’d scratched her head when she told them that she’d gotten it from a friend that gave it away, and he’d realized that he was royally fucked.

So then there he was, all caught up on how he’d gotten to that point. Gendry rubbed his temples as he sipped the black coffee in his travel mug, thanking God that it hadn’t gone cold. He got through his other class with strain and difficulty, trying and failing to forget the image of Arya’s tits bouncing up and down while she’d been riding him out as he discussed sex and marriage rituals in various Polynesian cultures. Once his second class let out, Gendry hopped onto the public transport bus that dropped him off a block away from his apartment, hoping that being back in his home would help him get his mind off of Arya. It most certainly did not.

As soon as he walked in the door, he found that everything was reminding him of the previous night. The picture that he had of himself and his mum on the wall was so beyond crooked, and he realized with a jolt that he’d pressed Arya up against that very spot. He uttered some noise that expressed his own disappointment in himself, feeling even worse when he started to arouse as he thought of how tight and wet she was as he straightened the picture of an eight year old him hugging his mum back at their home in King’s Landing.

He went into his room, knowing that it would be a bad idea even as he did it, but he wouldn’t lock himself out of his own bedroom forever simply because he was having difficulty forgetting a one night stand. He pulled his laptop out of his work bag and opened it up at his small desk, immediately pulling up the class info of the students in the first year social and cultural anthropology major. He spotted Arya’s name, school email, personal email, and cell phone number, and going against his better judgement, and probably a great number of school regulations, he pulled out his cell phone and began a message to the student.

**Gendry:** _Hi A. It’s G. Just getting in touch to ask what your shirt looks like so I can find it and get it back to you. Thx._

He dropped his cell phone on the desk and sighed heavily before opening up his lecture planning for the next week’s classes. It was a Thursday afternoon in Oldtown, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. He should be outside. Gendry sighed and closed his laptop before changing into a gym shirt of synthetic material and some bike shorts before grabbing his phone and heading out for a run, hoping that it would clear his mind. He plugged in his ear buds and pulled out his phone, about to start his running playlist when the text tone sounded with a message back from Arya.

**Arya:** _Hey G! It’s like a red slip but if the slip were just the shirt?? Idk how to really describe it, but you’ll know it when you see it, granted that there aren’t a great deal of women leaving their red shirts in your bedroom._

Gendry chuckled softly as he slipped his phone into his pocket, the opening notes to the first song on his running playlist starting out strong as he began a steady jog. Running helped to clear his mind, it always had. As he went down his usual route, the events that had transpired the previous night seemed to slip away from him, the world around him disappearing as he felt the pound of his feet against the solid earth beneath him.

+

Arya had changed out of the Mott’s auto shirt and into a simple yellow cotton tee, pairing it with some cuffed jeans that had a tear in the knee. She was hanging out with Gilly and Ygritte, seemingly the only other Northerners at that university who weren’t related to her. Ygritte was dating her older brother, Jon, though, so that did blur the line a bit, but she knew not to think about it too hard or she’d get a headache.

Despite the fact that Arya was only a first year, she was one of the most popular people on campus. She hadn’t really considered herself as a traditionally popular person in high school, but she’d always been incredibly social and outgoing, able to find friends anywhere, which made her well liked in university. Gilly and Ygritte were both upperclassmen, Gilly a junior and Ygritte a senior, but they all got along like three peas in a pod, finding comfort in their familiar Northern accents and similar tastes. That familiarity along with the fact that Gilly was dating her older brother’s best friend was the reason that they’d been able to house with each other in the first place. Gilly was an RA and had bent a few rules and called in a few favors so that her friend wouldn’t be stuck in the shit freshman housing for her first year. Arya liked familiarity when she could get it, especially in Oldtown, where almost nothing was like her hometown, Winterfell.

The three of them were hanging out on the green, their schoolwork assignments scattered around their picnic blankets as they basked in the beauty of the warm autumn day. It was November, but fall in the Reach was far different from fall in the North, and the air was still nice and warm as the leaves turned. Arya was lying on her belly, reading early chapters of the new book for her anthro class through her sunglasses when Ygritte gave a low and quiet whistle. That was always her way of alerting her friends of an attractive passerby, so naturally, Arya and Gilly looked up from their work.

“Twelve o’clock in the bike shorts, ladies.” The redhead said, grinning wickedly. Arya followed her friends line of vision and felt her stomach tie in knots as she realized that it was Gendry that Ygritte was ogling. He was standing tall, stretching his arms while the sweat that covered his skin made him glisten like a goddamn swimsuit model. _Fuck,_ he looked good.

“Oh god, stop it, that’s my anthro TA. I do _not_ need to be thinking about him like that when I’m in class.” Arya said, trying her best to turn her attention back to the book. She tried hard, she really did, but the words on the page didn’t register as her two friends started making crude commentary only just loud enough for each other to hear.

“Damn Arya, how do you get _anything_ done in that class? Look at him standing there, acting all casual, as if he isn’t just double cheeked up on a Thursday.” Ygritte said, leaning back on her elbows, grinning playfully as she and Gilly started to torment her.

“I’d get social with his cultural anthropology any day of the week.” Gilly teased, licking her lips to get a rise out of her friend who was trying hard to focus on the words on the page, not moving her gaze from the page, not even when the movement of him going to collect water from a water fountain in his cupped hands distracted her, the image of him splashing the water on his face and running his hands through his thick, black hair—

“ _Fuck_ , I lost my place!” She swore as she attempted to start again from the top of the page. Ygritte and Gilly cackled as the redhead poked her in the ribs with her toes.

“I bet he has the body of a Greek god under those clothes.” Ygritte mused as he started jogging away.

“God, you have no idea.” Arya said under her breath before she had the sense to shut her fucking mouth for once. Both women turned towards their friend with furrowed brows and the hints of a grin.

“What was that?” Ygritte asked, unsure if she’d heard her correctly, ready to probe and taunt in the event that she had.

“Hm?” Arya asked, lifting her gaze from the page back up to her friends, grateful for the sunglasses and the sunburn on her cheeks that disguised the all-too-telling flush of red in her face. Gilly squinted her eyes in suspicion before shrugging, the two older women deciding to drop the subject. After a little while longer of lounging in the grass, Ygritte had to leave for her shift at the athletic climbing wall in town, leaving Gilly and Arya alone. The sun would be setting soon, so they folded up their picnic blanket and got all their school shit together before they began to wander back to their dorm.

“So you came back late last night.” The older woman started to tease, gently nudging her friend with her arm. Arya rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the memory of Gendry’s head between her legs and _Jesus, why did she even think of that!_

“Yep.” She said, swallowing nervously. Gilly cocked her brows as she grinned playfully.

“Was it anyone I’d know?” She asked, digging for a hint of juice.

“Nope. Just someone I met at the Peach.” Arya said, lying through her teeth. Gilly’s gaze lingered for a moment, but she shrugged.

“Don’t make _too_ big a habit of it.” The older girl paused as she pressed her dorm key against the scanner, the door unlocking with a click. “But I’m glad that you’re having fun.” Arya gave a quick grin to her friend, hoping that it expressed her gratefulness in the few seconds that it lasted. When they got back to their room, Gilly left to take a call from her boyfriend, Sam. Arya plopped down on her bed, sighing loudly. Her phone dinged and the screen lit up, and she grabbed it from her desk and looked at the new message.

 **Gendry:** _Pretty sure I found your shirt behind the headboard. This it?_

Attached was a picture of her top laid out on his bed, which had been stripped of it’s sheets.

 **Arya:** _Yeppp. Thx G!_

Seconds later, she got a response.

 **Gendry:** _No problem, A:)_  
**Gendry:** _How should we go about undoing this shirt swap?_

 **Arya:** _I can just come early to class tomorrow and we can do it then._

 **Gendry:** _Bet, sounds like a plan._

Arya sat up and opened the top drawer of her dresser, grabbing his old t-shirt and stuffing it in her bag before she turned her attention to the reading assignment she had for her psychology 101 course. The rest of the night passed without incident or new messages from Gendry, and she was able to wake up the next morning, early and well rested. She began to make her way to Tarly for the nine AM class at 8:36, slipping into the classroom with ease. She spotted Gendry at his desk and as soon as the door was closed, he stood up and made eye contact with her, looking almost panicked.

“Ah, Ms. Stark, so glad you’re early! Did I tell your class that I’d be having a shadow with me today? This is Willow Heddle, she’s gonna be watching me and following me around the job for the next week to see if graduate school is right for her.” Gendry said, his blue eyes telling her how unideal the situation was. Arya nodded slowly as she walked over to the skinny girl sitting in a desk at the edge of the seats to shake her hand, the weight of the Mott’s auto t-shirt suddenly being altogether too heavy. The girl introduced herself with a squeaky and high pitched voice before Arya took her usual seat in the middle of the front row, meeting her TA’s gaze, the two of them bonded in a mutual suffering.

This wouldn’t be easy, would it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay wow, I never expected this to get such an overwhelmingly positive response right off the bat! I think I got the glitch under control, but before ao3 wouldn’t let me list this work as unfinished, but there is more coming! Thank you!!
> 
> Also it should be noted that Edric Storm and Mya Stone are both listed as Waters because in this fic, they are Gendry’s full siblings rather than half and they were all raised by their mother. Thank you!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gendry and Arya text. A lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: In this fic, Jon and Robb are twins. I just don’t feel like writing any Cat & Jon angst into this, so he’s her biological son as well here. Thanks for reading!

Gendry hadn’t signed up to have a shadow. In fact, he explicitly said that he _didn’t_ want a shadow when the email survey went out to all the grad students. But his friend Kyle had gotten a bad case of the stomach flu, so he’d been forced to take on his assigned shadow.

Willow Heddle was very shy and quiet, and really didn’t make good company. He tended to be very energetic in class, especially when Selmy was out, but Willow was like a depressor, bringing down the whole class, so he just stuck to the lecture as usual. She insisted on following him from the moment he arrived on campus to the moment he left, which was making things _very_ difficult for the whole shirt-swap with Arya. He was just leaving back home on the bus, just having gotten rid of Willow when he pulled out his phone.

 **Gendry:** _Hey, sorry about the shadow today. Friend of mine got sick and dropped her on me last minute. Maybe we could meet at the Peach and exchange shirts? Would 9:00 work?_

He got a response back within the minute.

 **Arya:** _Hey G! It’s fine about the shadow, don’t worry about it. But I’d just like for you think on that swap logic for a hot second. Meeting at the Peach, a popular bar in a college town, on a Friday night, when it’s bound to be crawling with people that you and I both know, to exchange shirts that were first swapped after a one night stand that occurred after we met at the Peach._  
**Arya:** _For a graduate student at one of the top universities in Westeros, you’re pretty stupid._

Gendry chuckled as he read her texts before typing back his response.

 **Gendry:** _Well when you put it *that* way, yeah._

 **Arya:** _Maybe we just try again before class when you drop the shadow?_

 **Gendry:** _Sounds like a plan._  
**Gendry:** _I just checked the schedule and she’s here for a week. Someone put me on suicide watch._

 **Arya:** _OOF_  
**Arya:** _Rest in peace Gendry Waters. Died from suicide, brought on by the weight of being followed around by a skinny little undergrad with the voice of a mouse for a week. He is remembered fondly by his students as an energetic teacher’s assistant and a very good lay. He will be missed_

Gendry felt something akin to pride when he read the part about being a _very good lay_. Against his better judgement, he decided to prod further.

 **Gendry:** _Very good, huh? I’ll have to put that on my tinder profile._

 **Arya:** _Don’t get too cocky, Waters, drunk Arya is sloppy and easily pleased._

 **Gendry** _I’ll leave that part out;)_

 **Arya:** _Is your dick on yelp? That way the ladies swiping right’ll get a more accurate view of what you’re like in bed._

 **Gendry** _Alas, my dick is not on yelp. Not actually on tinder either. I’m afraid that bit was just for the joke._

 **Arya:** _Ah, damn, there go my plans for the evening. I was gonna leave a detailed yelp review of your abilities titled “How he eats the peach & other exciting tales detailing Gendry Waters’ (drunken) sexual performance”. It would’ve gotten its own television show._

 **Gendry:** _Its own television show? Was I really that good? Asking for a friend._

 **Arya:** _I never said that *you* were good. The show would be earned for the quality of my review, not the subject of said review._

 **Gendry:** _I’ve read your essays, Arya, and unless your writing abilities have vastly improved since the last in class essay exam, you’re not getting that show._

 **Arya:** _I got an A on that essay, stupid, so keep an eye out for Arya’s Dick Review Hour, coming soon to a tv near you._

 **Gendry:** _I would give you the W on this one, but I’m a bit too stubborn for that, so let’s just say that I said something witty and hilarious and won._

**Arya:** _Sore loser is definitely going in the review._

**Gendry** _See, I’m not entirely convinced that your review is gonna be as nearly good as you’re hyping it up to be._

**Arya:** _Oh? And why not?_

**Gendry:** _Well, to start, you only studied the material once, And you were piss drunk when you did. Not to mention, you fell asleep afterwards and ended up late to class. I don’t think you got enough time with the material to write a proper essay._

**Arya:** _Mr. Waters, I’m offended. If my memory serves me correctly, I studied the material three times that night. I also sacrificed a beloved article of clothing in the process. That red shirt has seen me through many a late night study session, if ya catch my drift;)_

**Gendry:** _Well don’t forget that I lost a shirt too. Tobho Mott gave me that shirt on my last day before I left for Oldtown because the one I’d gotten as a fourteen year old when I first started working for him didn’t fit any longer._

**Arya:** _Review or no review, we will see our shirts again yet. We just gotta find a way to exchange them without getting shirt-blocked by annoying shadows._

**Gendry:** _Shirt-blocked?_

**Arya:** _It’s like cock-blocked, but instead of being after cock, we’re after the shirts that were exchanged post-not-being-cock-blocked._

**Gendry:** _Points for creativity, Ms. Stark. You may get your Dick Review Hour yet._

**Arya:** _I’m so glad that you finally believe in me._

**Gendry:** _In the meantime of being shirt-blocked by the shadow, you do need to write a summary on the belief of the Hmong people as to how the world came to be by Monday._

**Arya:** _Is this Teacher Mode Gendry? Because I gotta ask, do you do this with all your students? Get drunk, have sex with them, hide their shirts so they’re forced to take one of yours and then use your personal number to remind them of assignments?_

**Gendry:** _Ah damn, you found me out. And I wouldn’t say that reminding you of an assignment would be me in Teacher Mode, but rather me in Helpful-Friend-Who-Doesn’t-Want-You-To-Get-A-Bad-Grade Mode._

**Arya:** _Fair nuff._  
**Arya** _Hey how’d you get my number anyways?_

**Gendry** _Teacher Mode Gendry has its perks;)_  
**Gendry** _Just realized how creepy that sounded. I should clarify, I looked your number up in the student info on the class website, I promise I’m not a Super Creep._

**Arya:** _”Swears he’s not a Super Creep, but the evidence is stacked against him. Exhibit A: he’s holding my beloved shirt hostage like it’s some kind of trophy that serial killers keep. Exhibit B: Was able to look up my personal number, although he alleges he was only able to do so via the class website, which brings us to.... Exhibit C: He slept with a student and continues to keep in contact with her following the one night drunken excursion to popular bar in Oldtown known as the Peach.” That bit’s going in the review._

**Gendry:** _You wound me😭_

**Arya:** _Good, I wouldn’t be a proper dick critic without a little wounding._

**Gendry:** _Hey I just got off at my stop, and I have papers to grade, but I’ll see you in class on Monday at noon, hopefully with a review of the Hmong beliefs on the origins of the world instead of a review on my sexual performance._

**Arya:** _Lmao I’ll see you then. Have fun grading papers that have nothing to do with your sexual performance;)_

Gendry grinned as he pocketed his phone and entered his apartment building. Maybe this whole thing wouldn’t be too bad after all. 

\+ 

Arya had just put down her phone, grinning as the door to her bedroom slammed open and before she knew what was happening, a flash of red hair had zoomed in from the hallway and Ygritte was on top of her, giggling like a madman. 

“JESUS! Grits, what the fuck is your problem!” Arya said, laughing as her friend tickled her before sitting up, still cackling. 

“He’s here, dipshit!” Ygritte said, climbing off of her friend before standing by the door, practically vibrating. 

“Who?” Arya asked, propping herself up on her elbows. 

“Jon! He came in on a surprise visit because he has the week free! Come on, he’s outside!” Arya’s grey eyes went bug wide as she practically fell out of her bed. She then proceeded to follow Ygritte down the hallway and out of the building before she spotted him. He was standing under the big tree out on the green, dressed in a black t-shirt and a pair of dark wash jeans. As soon as his eyes landed on hers, Arya’s face erupted into a grin. She ran towards him before jumping into his arms, almost knocking him to the ground, burying her smiling face into his neck. 

Jon spun her around once before setting her back down on her feet, the two siblings grinning at each other. 

“Did you miss me?” He asked before Arya hit him playfully on the chest. 

“DUH! What are you doing here?” She asked as the three of them began to walk. 

“I wanted to come see you!” Ygritte smacked his arm before he snaked an arm around her waist and kissed her lips, all while grinning. 

“And this one, of course.” He added, which caused Arya to roll her eyes. She then pulled out her phone and called her sister, who picked up after the second ring. 

“What is it?” She asked, evidently slightly annoyed. 

“Get you’re lazy ass out of bed and come outside, Jon’s here!” Arya said as they slowly approached her dorm. 

“What? Arya, Jon’s still up North.” Sansa said, confused. The younger of the sisters Stark then held the phone up to Jon for him to speak into. 

“Hi Sansa!” He said, grinning as Ygritte nipped at his ear, whispering something that Arya definitely did _not_ want to hear as she did. 

“OH MY GOD! Okay, I’m coming down.” Sansa then hung up the phone and not a minute later, she was opening the doors from her dorm lobby and barreling towards their brother. The two siblings embraced warmly before exchanging pleasantries. 

After the group had gotten over the initial excitement of reuniting, the four of them decided to head out for a drink at the Peach, Arya deciding that it would be safe considering that she and Gendry had decided not to meet there. She was piggy backing on Jon when they arrived and of fucking course she saw Gendry standing out on the sidewalk as they approached the bar. Their eyes met briefly before she blushed and jumped down from Jon’s back. His face seemed to darken, something akin to anger flashing in his eyes as she approached him. 

“Hey Gendry, what are you doing here?” She asked as she and her group stopped in front of him. 

“Just out to grab a drink.” He responded shortly. Arya furrowed her brows, slightly confused, before she turned to her siblings and friend. 

“Guys, this is Gendry Waters, he’s my anthro TA. Gendry this is my friend Ygritte Snow, my sister Sansa, and my brother Jon.” At the mention of the word _brother_ , Gendry’s whole demeanor shifted. He shook each of their hands with a smile on his face before his gaze settled back on Arya. 

“I hope this little rascal isn’t causing too much trouble in your class.” Jon joked as he went to ruffle Arya’s hair, which she easily dodged while rolling her eyes. Gendry laughed awkwardly as she cast her eyes to the ground, her cheeks reddening as the memories of his hands all over and inside her popped into her mind once again. 

“No, quite the opposite. Arya’s a very engaged student, the best in her class, really.” He said, and she blushed even further at the sincerity in his words. Jon nodded thoughtfully and Sansa eyed suspiciously before Arya interrupted the silence. 

“Let’s all go in and get drunk, yeah?” She suggested, breaking the spell of awkwardness as they all went in together. 

Arya limited herself to three drinks that night, not wanting a repeat of earlier that week, especially not while surrounded by her brother, sister, and friend. She and Gendry didn’t interact much beyond occasional glances towards one another, which was a good thing. Arya definitely didn’t want anymore shirts to weigh her down. Sansa and Arya left around midnight, Jon and Ygritte having left about an hour earlier with their hands and lips all over one another. They’d gotten into the back of the uber, who dropped them off at the entrance of the university. The Stark sisters both thanked the driver before heading off to their separate dormitories for the night. 

After Arya had showered, brushed her teeth, and gotten into pajama shorts and an oversized t-shirt, she pulled out her phone. 

**Arya:** _Hey G quick question, what was that about?_

**Gendry:** _I cannot give the answer you seek unless you be a little bit more clear as to what you are referring to._

**Arya:** _Before we went into the Peach you were looking all weird when you saw my brother. Like angry kinda. So what was that about?_  
**Arya:** _Or am I just crazy and imagining things?_

**Gendry:** _Oh, that._  
**Gendry:** _It just kinda looked like you and Jon were a thing when you were on his back. And then when you jumped down and looked kind of embarrassed, I assumed that I was correct._

**Arya:** _Gendry, are you suggesting that you’re jealous of other guys after just one night together? This review is just gonna be me talking MAD shit about you, isn’t it?_

**Gendry:** _Oh my god, no no no, I wasn’t jealous or anything, it’s just that I’ve been cheated on before, and it’s not fun. I thought for a minute there that I’d unwittingly participated in you cheating on this guy, and that’s not the kinda person that I want to be, or that I know you to be. So I was a little thrown off, but I’m good now._

**Arya:** _Well now I feel like an ass for threatening to insult you on the dick review._

**Gendry:** _That’s what you get for jumping to conclusions._

**Arya:** _Ugh now I’m conflicted._

**Gendry:** _What about?_

**Arya:** _I can’t decide if I should give you sympathy bonus points on the dick review or not because some cunt cheated on you but you still remain a great dude._

**Gendry:** _How about this. Don’t give me sympathy points, but leave a nasty review for Bella’s pussy on this imaginary sex yelp. God knows that it won’t affect her ratings too much considering how many people have left reviews._

**Arya:** _OOOOOOOH SHIT! WATERS COMIN IN HOT WITH THAT BURN!_

**Gendry:** _Thank you, I try._

**Arya:** _You’re welcome, G. I’m already preparing the nastiest review I can imagine to leave on her sex yelp. It’s gonna be so bad that the only future reviews will come from her vibrator._

**Gendry:** _Now there’s an idea._

**Arya:** _As much as I’d like to stay up and discuss revenge reviewing on your skanky ex, I should get to sleep because my sister roped me into brunch with my older brothers and their girlfriends tomorrow. Well, Robb’s isn’t a girlfriend, it’s a wife, but whatever. G’night G._

**Gendry** _Goodnight A. See ya Monday._

Arya then plugged in her phone and then slowly drifted off to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that this has a bunch more chapters coming! This was originally gonna be a one shot, but after writing the first chapter, I decided to make it a full length fic. Thanks for all the positive feedback that you’ve given me! I hope the second chapter lived up to your expectations!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya goes to brunch, and then she and Gendry discuss anthropology.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of things: Westeros and Essos in this fic are working in tandem with the real world somehow. Just ignore everything you know about geography and pretend it works for this fic. And in this fic, the legal drinking age is 17. It should also be noted that while writing this chapter, my inner anthropologist really jumped tf out. Arya and Gendry go on to discuss a real ethnographic text (that everyone everywhere should read but that’s beside the point) called The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, which details the true life conflicts that occurred in treating a young girl named Lia Lee for epilepsy between her Hmong family and her American doctors. Just a fair warning, this text will be referenced again in future chapters, but all the context that you will need to understand its place in this fic will be provided. Thanks for reading!

Arya had woken up around 10:00am, checking her phone for any new messages first thing. The only one she had was a text from Sansa with the name of the restaurant where they’d be meeting Jon, Ygritte, Robb, and Talisa at 11:30am.

The brown haired Stark then sat up and stretched her limbs before slipping off of her bed, her small, bare feet tapping against the cold hardwood floor. She tiptoed over to the bathroom and started the water nice and cold in the shower, just the way she liked it in the mornings to wake her up. She normally kept the water at a good chill if she was doing a morning shower, but she made it icy cold today for the simple fact that she’d had an incredibly intense sex dream about Gendry eating her out and then fucking her doggy style. God, it had been so hot the way he’d held onto her hips when she’d bucked against his face in that dream, Jesus, and the way he’d—

“Bad Arya!” She hissed at herself as she stepped into the shower, gasping at the freezing cold water as it pelted down against her skin. She shaved quickly, skipped the conditioner, and barely thought to scrub her skin with soap before turning off the water and jumping out, breathing deeply as she wrapped her shivering body in her bathrobe. Her teeth were chattering and her lips were blue as she began to blow dry her hair.

By the time her hair was dry, Arya had warmed up to the point where she wasn’t feeling like a human icicle any longer. She then brushed her teeth before stepping back into her room, noting how Gilly was still sleeping peacefully in her bed, so she tried to keep as quiet as possible while getting ready. Arya opened her dresser drawers and pulled out a pair of light wash jeans and a grey long sleeved shirt that had shrunk ever so slightly in the wash to the point that it just fit a bit more snug than it had in the past. She silently slipped into her red converse before grabbing her phone and her purse and slipping out of the room, slowly shutting the door behind her. It was 11:03am, so she started to head over to the parking lot where she knew Sansa would be waiting in her light blue SUV. Arya hopped in the passenger side and buckled her seat belt before the older of the two began to pull out of the parking lot. The brown haired Stark felt her phone buzz in her purse as her sister turned on the radio, so she slipped it out and grinned when she saw the text notification from Gendry.

 **Gendry:** _Good god, I just got an email from Willow that’s asking if she could shadow me for the weekend to get a good idea of the social scene of graduate school here. I’m considering just deleting it and pretending like I never saw it. Does that make me a bad person?_

Arya grinned as she typed back a response.

 **Arya:** _I think this warrants a great philosophical debate on morality. Which is to be placed higher in terms of a betterment of the self: being polite or being true to ones own desires?_

 **Gendry:** _Well, I believe that it was the great philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who once said, “Bitches ain’t shit, get ya coin” when asked this very question. So, keeping in step with that set of beliefs, I deleted the email._

 **Arya:** _Nietzsche really went off near the end there, huh?_

 **Gendry:** _I strongly believe that his end of life manic-depressive psychosis was brought on by Willow’s ancestor following him around all day. He probably had his infamously public mental breakdown of 1889 after great-grandma Heddle asked him about post graduate employment plans._

Arya began to giggle as she started to type her response, but Sansa interrupted.

“So who’s the lucky guy who has my sister cackling like a hyena before noon on a Saturday?” Sansa asked with a light grin on her lips. Arya looked up and rolled her eyes.

“Grow up, Sans, it’s just a friend from anthro.” Arya said, slightly uncomfortable with the fact that she wasn’t being entirely honest with her sister. A small part of her felt a little thrilled, excited to have these secret communications with Gendry. A weird part of her that needed to cut that horny shit out felt turned on by the fact that he was technically her teacher and had a fair amount of control over her. Arya always despised being bossed around regularly, but she supposed that was because the sexual facet of her identity took up all the submissiveness.

“Does this friend from anthro have a name?” Sansa mused, pressing for more. Arya rolled her eyes.

“Nope.” She said, causing the elder of the two sisters to chuckle.

 **Arya:** _I don’t doubt it for a second._  
**Arya:** _Hey I gotta skedaddle, my sister and I just pulled up to the restaurant where we’re meeting our brothers for brunch. I’ll text you if I need someone to keep me from killing myself over mimosas and avocado toast._

 **Gendry:** _Will do. Have fun not committing suicide:)_

Arya and Sansa got out of the car and approached the diner. It was nice, very cute and quaint.

“Who picked the place?” Arya asked as they entered in through the front doors. Sansa furrowed her brows as they let the doors fall closed behind them.

“I dunno. Robb is the one who texted me about it so I guess him and Talisa?” The two paused their conversation as they stopped in front of the hostess stand and were greeted by a cheery woman with dark skin and tightly curled hair.

“Hi! My name is Callie, how can I help you?” The woman said, smiling brightly. After Sansa pointed out the table where Jon, Ygritte, and Robb were waiting, Callie led them over there and placed menus at their seats.

The eldest of the Stark siblings stood to greet his younger sisters, his blue eyes twinkling as he brought Arya in for an embrace. He absolutely dwarfed her, the difference in height coming in at twelve inches exactly, a fact that he usually teased her with. But he didn’t make any short jokes at her that day.

“Hey kiddo.” He said affectionately before they separated and each took their seats.

“Where’s Talisa? I thought she was supposed to join us.” Arya asked, looking around as she scooted her chair up closer to the table. Robb looked over his shoulder before turning back to his siblings, smile still wide on his face.

“She just went to the bathroom, she’ll be back in a minute.” As if right on cue, Robb’s wife, Dr. Talisa Maegyr, came in from the bathrooms, beaming widely at her two sister-in-laws. She hugged Sansa first, as she was closer, and then Arya. Talisa always smelled like a weird mixture of rubbing alcohol and vanilla, but today she just smelled like her vanilla perfume, the sterilized scent of the hospital where she worked having genuinely faded away for once.

Arya had always liked Talisa. She and Robb had had a bit of a whirlwind of a romance, going from strangers with a few mutual friends to married in the span of seven months, which made most of their family wary of the pairing, but Arya had always seen them for what they were. Talisa brought out the best in her brother. They never fought, which seemed miraculous considering Robb’s stubbornness. But Talisa was very communicative, very empathetic, and managed stress quite well. She was always smiling, but never in a fake way. There was something so genuine about her that Arya greatly admired, and she knew that Robb did too. Their wedding had been a small and intimate affair, the two of them married by a priest in a lovely little garden near a church, the only guests in attendance being Talisa’s mother, father, and brother along with all of the immediate Stark family. They’d almost eloped in Vegas a week earlier, but luckily for their families, they’d gotten too drunk to leave their hotel room for that to happen. They’d been married for about ten months at this point, and Arya swore that she had never seen her brother happier.

“You’re both looking lovely as always! I’m so glad you could join us for brunch with your busy school schedules.” Talisa said as she seated herself in her chair before she began to skim the menu. Jon snorted.

“Trust me, they’re far more busy with parties and drinking than they are with school.” Jon joked as Sansa and Ygritte simultaneously rolled their eyes.

“You know, I might have given you that one, but you’re never actually here enough to accurately say how we university students are or aren’t spending our time.” Ygritte said, earning her an approving chorus of _oooooo’s_ from her boyfriend’s siblings. Jon grinned as he shrugged, relenting.

“Alright, alright, you got me there.” He admitted before turning his attention back to the menu, absentmindedly stroking Ygritte’s knee as he did so.

“Hi! Are y’all ready to order, or should I come back later?” Callie the waitress asked, suddenly interrupting the moment with a smile and a notepad at the ready. Everyone went around and gave their orders, and by the time she had finished with Talisa, Robb was calling her back, causing the server to backpedal only a few steps.

“Callie, would you be able to get us a round of mimosas please?” He asked, and the waitress nodded with a polite smile.

“Sure thing! I’ll get you those drinks right away.” She said before hurrying off to the kitchen. Not a minute later, a bus boy came back with six mimosas on a tray and had dished them out to each of the guests without spilling a drop. Robb and Talisa made silent eye contact before raising their glasses as they shared a grin. Sansa arched a brow at her brother as she and the others followed suit in raising their own glasses.

“Is there something you’d like to toast, Robb?” She asked slowly, and Arya instantly recognized what her sister might be insinuating. Talisa and Robb had both been fairly open about the fact that they wanted a big family from the get go, but considering the intense nature of Talisa’s job as a resident in pediatric oncology in an esteemed hospital and the long hours of Robb’s occupation as an independent chief financial strategist and advisor for several large corporations, Arya had expected them to wait a bit longer before bringing kids into the mix. But she knew them well enough to trust that if they had made the decision to have children at this time that it was the right one.

“Yes, Sansa, actually we do have a bit of an announcement. Well, Lis does, really.” He said, grinning from ear to ear. All eyes were on Talisa as the suspense hung thick in the air while she grinned knowingly.

“Well, I’m very excited to reveal to everyone that I have secured a job as assistant to the chief pediatric oncologist at Citadel Central Hospital when I finish my residency!” She said with a smile. Everyone started congratulating her with heartfelt sincerity, despite everyone having half expected a pregnancy announcement. They all started clinking their glasses together with congratulations, as Talisa thanked them, but she paused before continuing on with another statement. “But, um, I will have to postpone the start date of that job for a bit because I’ll actually be on maternity leave.” Arya furrowed her brows in confusion for about two seconds before it hit her, everyone’s jaws dropped to the floor in surprise. But the momentary shock quickly gave way to overwhelming joy as Sansa, Arya, Jon, and Ygritte stood and shuffled around the table to hug the new mother and father to-be. Arya was the first to hug her sister-in-law, wrapping her skinny arms around her tightly, sentiments of excitement, pride, and congratulations flooding out of her mouth before she even knew what she was saying.

The flood of questions afterwards lasted the group throughout the rest of the brunch.

“How far along are you?”

“Ten weeks today.”

“Boy or girl?”

“It’s too early to tell at the moment, but when we do find out, you guys will be the first to know.”

“Who else have you told?”

“Talisa’s family as well as Mum, Dad, Bran, and Rickon.”

“Thinking of any names yet?”

“Nothing in particular, but we want to do some sort of family name.”

The rest of the brunch went by in a blur of cheek-hurting grins, what seemed to be thousands of questions about their plans, and the surge of insurmountable joy that came with the announcement of the impending baby. Arya and Sansa left around 1:45pm, having tipped poor Callie generously considering how loud and ridiculous they got after the announcement had been made. When they’d arrived back at the university and had made their ways back to their individual dorms, Arya pulled out her phone to find a new message waiting for her from Gendry.

 **Gendry:** _So did you survive brunch, or did you succumb to the ever present desire to stab oneself with a salad fork?_

 **Arya:** _Not only did I survive, but I found out that I’M GONNA BE A MOTHER FUCKING AUNT!!!!! My sister-in-law is pregnant!!!!_

 **Gendry:** _Holy shit that’s awesome! Congrats A!_

 **Arya:** _Thank you! I played no part in making it happen!_

 **Gendry:** _Well god, I’d hope not._

 **Arya:** _Oh jesus, shut up._  
**Arya:** _I’m actually gonna skeet for a bit and work on this summary that I have due Monday for anthro. The TA’s been on my dick about it since yesterday🙄_

 **Gendry:** _He sounds like an ass._

 **Arya:** _Oh he absolutely is. Rumor has it that he slept with a student once._

 **Gendry** _Jesus Christ, that’s terrible. I hope he gets fired._

Arya chuckled to herself as she rolled her eyes and shut off her phone, reaching over for her laptop and pulling up the chapters one and two summary assignment prompt. She spent the next couple of hours writing up a detailed summary of the beliefs of the Hmong people on pregnancy and birth rituals, spiritual beliefs, and the concepts of how spirituality and religion directly impacted health, illness, and healing within their communities. When she had finished reading through and editing her first rough draft, she eyed the time stamp on her laptop, which read 4:34pm. She then eyed her phone where it was charging on her nightstand, and noted the lack of Gilly’s presence in the room before grabbing it and shooting her roommate a quick message.

 **Arya:** _Hey Gilligan, wya?_

 **Gilly** _Sam’s doing a whole speech for this event put on by this historian’s society, so I’m here supporting him. I also know nobody, so I’m just getting drunk in the corner with all the other clueless dates while my man piece struts his intellectual stuff with other historians. Probably won’t be back until late._

 **Arya:** _Okie dokie, good to know. Have fun with your alcohol poisoning!_

After pressing send, Arya proceeded to plug in her earbuds, go into Gendry’s contact, and before she had the chance to think better about it, she pressed call. He picked up after one ring.

“Hey you, how’s it going?” Gendry greeted from the other end. _Hey you._ That shouldn’t have made her grin, but she didn’t have the energy to think about the implications of said grin as she responded.

“Nothing much, really. I just wanted to get your opinion on this summary before I start editing and shit, I dunno.” She said, leaving out the bit where she wanted to have a conversation where she could actually hear his voice instead of just imagining it while reading his texts.

“Sure thing, send it over to me and I can make live comments about all the stuff you’re doing wrong while I read through it.” He joked, and Arya rolled her eyes as she could practically hear him grinning through the phone.

“Okay, I just texted you the invite link to edit.” She responded, and watched the document as Gendry’s icon popped up.

“Okay, let’s do a quick read through here.” There was a thoughtful pause as he read through the introductory paragraph before he spoke up again. “Alright, strong opening, A. The only thing that I would change—“ He started, but she cut him off.

“BOO, you suck! Get off the phone!” She jeered in jest, struggling to keep her laughter under wraps as she could almost hear him rolling his eyes and grinning.

“Hey, you called me, dude.” He replied, and she let out a small giggle.

“You’re right. But I don’t actually need your help on the summary, I was just using that as an excuse to get you on the phone.” Arya winced the moment after the words escaped her lips, hoping that somehow he might have not heard the obvious flirting that she had desperately hoped to avoid.

“Oh, hot for teacher are we?” Gendry taunted, and she felt her cheeks reddening as she scoffed, grateful that they weren’t on FaceTime so he couldn’t see her embarrassment.

“You wish. I just find texting tedious and you’re fun to talk to, that I’ll admit.” She offered, and he laughed on the other end.

“Sure thing, Stark, whatever you say.” There was a short pause before Gendry spoke again. “How’s my shirt doing? You treating it good?” He asked, gently tilting the conversation out of the dangerously flirtatious territory that they’d been in since she’d first interrupted him.

“It’s doing just fine folded up in my bag. God, I can’t wait for that shadow of yours to leave so I can get old red back.” She mused, rolling onto her back and staring up at the ceiling.

“Me too, Arya, me fucking too.” He agreed before pausing, a thoughtfulness filling the silence. “So what did you think of those first two chapters?” Gendry asked, pulling Arya back into the conversation.

“Hm? Oh, you mean of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down?” She asked, propping herself up on her elbows, eyeing the book that already had several tabs on the pages and annotations written in the margins for the first two chapters from her studying of it.

“Yeah. What did you think?” He pressed lightly, and she could hear a bit of excitement coming from his voice. She felt herself grinning as she closed her laptop and plugged it in on her desk, glad to find a kindred spirit in passion for anthropology. No one ever seemed to care about anthro outside of her major. They always rolled their eyes and groaned in annoyance whenever she tried to express her absolute adoration for the subject, and even some students within the major didn’t seem to truly care too much about it either. But Gendry was different. Gendry was like her. He had that same desire to learn as much as possible about the inner workings of various cultures across time and across the world, to be able to understand what makes all of our interconnected lives meaningful, what makes us the same, what makes us different, what makes us human. It was so refreshing to see that same passion in somebody else.

“It’s _really_ interesting. I mean, right off the bat, Fadiman gets going with the birthing practices of the Hmong, specifically with Foua Lee, and that shit is _intense_. I mean, she gave birth to _twelve kids entirely unassisted!_ And she didn’t even let herself scream when she did! The whole belief system of the Hmong is insane, it’s just on a whole nother level. Everything to them is spiritual, there’s no line drawn between religion and social relations, or language, or birth, or death, or any of it. Their culture is just so brilliantly... _concentrated_. Being able to study a culture like that is every anthropologists dream.” She paused to take a breath and listened for Gendry’s response on the other end, but was only met with silence. “Hello? You still there?” Arya asked tentatively, suddenly afraid that she had gotten too excited and blabbered his ear off, but was then quickly met with a reply.

“Yeah yeah, I’m still here. I’m just kind of amazed at how you put all the excitement I’ve been feeling since my own freshman year when I was reading this text for the first time into words. You’re the first person I’ve ever talked to outside of the anthropological society that actually shares my utter fascination with the Hmong. That first chapter just ropes you right in, doesn’t it? The contrast in American pregnancy and birth practices versus the Hmong pregnancy and birth practices is insane, especially when you consider the relatively similar success rates of both cultures. But it’s nothing short of tragedy when the two are forced together.” Gendry said, chattering on just as quickly as Arya had.

“God, yes! Like the instant dread that you feel when Fadiman describes Lia’s birth, and how controlled it all was in the Merced hospital is just so utterly... _heartbreaking_. It truly is nothing short of cultural tragedy. Like, Foua had always had healthy children after going about her pregnancies in an entirely Hmong fashion without an ounce of western medicine, you know? In Laos, she relied on her village’s tvix neeb to ward off the dabs so she wouldn’t be infertile— what?” After she had said the word _dabs_ , Gendry had started laughing. He was evidently trying to keep it under control, but it really wasn’t working.

“The words are not pronounced as they’re spelled, Arya. The Hmong word for shaman is not pronounced _tee-vix neeb_. It’s pronounced like _twee nay_. And the evil spirits in the Hmong world are called _dahs_ , not _dabs_ like they’re spelled. Although, I will say, it works as a good pneumonic to remember that dabbing is evil.” Gendry explained, trying and failing to control his laughter. Arya rolled her eyes despite her embarrassment.

“Okay, well it’s not my fault that whoever first translated oral Hmong into literate English has a fucked up sense of phonetic consistency.” She said, grinning as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

“No, you’re absolutely right, it isn’t you’re fault at all. Doesn’t mean I’m not gonna make fun of you for it though.” Gendry teased as Arya rolled her eyes, stretching her legs as she slowly paced back and forth across her dorm room floor.

“So I’m guessing that the soul calling ceremony that they performed on Lia a month after her birth is not called a _hu plig_ as it is spelled?” She said, pronouncing it _who pligg_ in an embarrassingly un-Hmong accent.

“That would be correct. It’s pronounced _who plee_ , so I guess you got the first part of it right. Bonus points for effort.” He chuckled as Arya grinned softly.

“Okay, well, now that we’ve covered everything in the first chapter, I can conclude that I am embarrassingly white and you’re only a little bit of a prick about it. Let’s talk about chapter two before I embarrass myself further.” Arya suggested as she hopped back up onto her bed.

“Ah, fish soup! An in-depth discussion of Hmong history. This one was always super interesting to me, as I minored in world history as an undergrad. What are your thoughts?” Gendry asked. Arya could hear the springs of his bed creak as he laid back on his bed, or so she imagined.

“Well, I gotta say right off the bat how admirable it is that the Hmong remained independent and un-conquered for so long. I mean, you look back on their history, and you have to admire the tenacity and passion of the people in the defense of their culture. Like that bit about the Chinese emperor Hoang-ti and the criminal code was just _fascinating_ , how the Hmong people were subjected to such barbaric criminal punishments simply for refusing to assimilate. It reminds me a lot of the old stories I used to hear growing up about the ancient wildings of the North. There are a lot of comparisons to be drawn there, even down to the point of calling themselves “free-folk”, as the word “Hmong” is often translated to _literally mean_ “free men”. Throughout their recorded history, the Hmong truly exemplified fight or flight whenever their way of life was threatened by oppressors who sought to force them into assimilation, and that’s something that’s just so utterly admirable. They fought when they could, no matter the odds, and when things started turning against them, they’d flee to the mountains. Although, I will say, that one story from the year 1730 about how some of the Hmong soldiers killed their own wives and children because they believed having nothing to lose would help them fight better was pretty disturbing. But overall, it was entirely brilliant on Fadiman’s part to include this chapter so early on. It gives the reader context for what to expect from the Hmong in this story, that historically, they’ve always been a proudly independent people that have never shied away from a fight just because the enemy has greater power or vaster resources. I’m excited to keep reading and see how it all played out in the end.” Arya said, glancing at the paperback where it lay in the center of her bed, a small itch to pick it up and continue reading starting to form in the back of her mind.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.” Gendry replied. A pause hung in the air before the TA spoke up again. “I think I might just go ahead and give you the A on that summary right now and spare myself the time grading it that I could be spending doing other stuff.” He mused, and Arya couldn’t quite tell if he was joking or not.

“Other stuff like what? Getting drunk at the Peach?” She taunted, earning a small chuckle from the other end of the line.

“Other stuff like talking to you... about anthro. You really are invested in it. It’s refreshing to have a student who’s truly passionate about the subject and isn’t just taking the course because they’re trying every major under the sun in their first year. You actually get it.” Gendry said, leaving Arya unsure of how comfortable she was with the sincerity of the sentiment, an inner debate that didn’t even leave room to focus on the fact that Gendry had definitely not originally intended to bring anthropology into that statement.

“Well, I’ll take the A that you’re offering, but only if I’ve actually earned it. You can’t give it to me now ‘cause I know that you only read my introduction. How are you supposed to know that the body and conclusion aren’t just the first bit of the bee movie script copied and pasted onto the document?” She said, shifting the tone of the conversation back into the comfortable atmosphere of jokes, teases, and taunts.

“That’s fair enough, but I would highly doubt that the rest of that paper is just the beginning of the bee movie. Selmy wouldn’t stand for that in a million years.” He said, laughing quietly as he imagined her turning in a proper essay exam to Dr. Selmy like that. The poor old guy would lose his shit.

“Selmy would hand me my ass on a plate if I gave him the bee movie script instead of an essay.” Arya chuckled, fiddling her toes along the edges of the book pages as she spoke.

“That he would.” Gendry agreed. There was a slow lull in the conversation before Gendry spoke up again. “Hey, listen, it’s been great talking to you, but I have lessons and lectures to plan for the upcoming week, and I have to incorporate She Who Shall Not Be Named into them, so I should bounce.” Gendry said as Arya offered a pitiful laugh.

“ _She Who Shall Not Be Named?_ Is the shadow really that bad?” She asked, giggling lightly.

“I’m sure she’s a lovely person when she’s not shadowing, but Jesus mother of christ, she just sits there, taking notes on her tablet, never actually saying or doing anything except silently judging me throughout all my classes, yet she still insists on sticking to my side from the moment I arrive on campus to the moment I leave. It’s the worst. I think my buddy Kyle only got stomach flu from pure force of will because he’d met her before and didn’t wanna be stuck with her for a week. I honestly wouldn’t blame him if his falling sick hadn’t landed me with her.” Gendry complained, but Arya could hear the lightheartedness behind his bitter words. She nodded before wrapping up the conversation.

“Alright, well I’ll let you go. I’ll see you Monday!” She said, finishing the farewell in an oddly cheerful manner.

“I’ll see you then, A.”

“Bye G.” Arya then pressed _end call_ and flopped back onto her pillows, eyeing the ethnographic text that lay near her knees before grabbing it to begin reading the third chapter.

+

Gendry couldn’t decide if the call with Arya had been fantastic for their situation or insanely detrimental to the air of professionalism that they were trying to build after the incident of Wednesday night. Probably the latter. He ran a hand through his hair as he placed his phone screen-down on his desk, trying to dissect what exactly was happening between them.

He’d only gotten her number in the first place to arrange a swap of the shirts, and he’d told himself then that he’d delete it once they’d returned their respective shirts to one another, and the fact that they’d just talked for a good half hour on the phone with only one mention of said shirts probably wasn’t a good sign that he was keeping things professional. The grad student groaned loudly as he leaned back in the chair at his desk, cursing himself for ever going out with Ned that night at the Peach.

Gendry had always made a point to never get involved with girls more than two years younger than himself. As a teen, those kinds of things could easily be considered predatory, and given his more dominant nature in bed, power dynamics could and more than likely would turn the relationship sour, so he found it best to just stick to women his age. At twenty three, he’d begun to relax a bit more on that rule, but he still never dipped below twenty. That is, not until Wednesday night. Arya was only eighteen, still financially dependent on her parents, and still figuring out the whole adulthood thing. Or at least that would be true of a typical eighteen year old. Something about Arya just seemed so very put together in the least formal way possible. She just had this natural confidence about her that paired brilliantly with her strong work ethic, intelligence, and vast social skills that made her seem like she’d been at the whole adult thing for a lot longer than she actually had. And there were definitely a lot of other adult skills that she had that Gendry knew he shouldn’t think about, especially when he still had to write the lectures for Thursday and Friday. He opened his laptop to the general notes and ideas he had planned for those days’ lectures, yet as he was typing, the memory of Arya’s skilled mouth around his cock kept creeping back into his mind. He slammed his laptop shut with a frustrated groan after accidentally typing out the words _Fuck, just like that_ onto the page.

“Come on, Waters, get your shit together.” He said, chiding himself as he stood up. He shook his head and peered out of his window. The sun had just set, but he didn’t care. He needed to go for a run to clear his mind. Gendry changed into some workout clothes before leaving his building, plugging in a pair of earbuds, and starting up his running playlist as he began to jog through the darkening streets of Oldtown.

By the time Gendry got back to his apartment an hour later, all thoughts of Arya Stark were gone from his mind, and all that he could think about was getting into a nice, cold shower. He took the stairs to the third floor before trudging into his apartment in 3F. He removed his shirt first thing, using the synthetic garment as a sweat rag of sorts as he drew ragged breath after ragged breath, peeling off the rest of his clothes and tossing them into his laundry hamper before getting into the shower.

As the chilled water hit Gendry’s skin, he began to wonder how Arya bathed. Did she prefer showers or baths? Did she bathe during the day or at night? Did she like it scalding hot, freezing cold, lukewarm, chilled, or perfectly neutral? Gendry shook himself from those thoughts as he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, scolding himself inwardly for ever indulging those thoughts. The weird and slightly concerning part of it was that it wasn’t even sexual. He just genuinely wanted to know these things about her from a purely (and slightly frustratingly) curious point of view.

“Jesus christ, I need help.” He muttered as he dried himself off with a towel before tying it around his waist. Gendry walked over to his desk and sat down as he opened up his laptop, spending the next couple of hours painstakingly pushing through his intellectual block and hammering out the lectures for Thursday and Friday. After closing his laptop for the night, Gendry slipped into a pair of sweatpants and crawled into bed. He decided to check his phone before settling in for the night, punching in his password before plugging in the device to its charger. Before he put it down, he noticed a text from Arya that he’d received a few hours earlier, right after they’d ended the call.

 **Arya:** _Great conversationalist and enthusiastic anthropologist is going in the dick review btw. I’ll give credit where credit is due._

He smiled to himself as he turned off his phone, still grinning like an idiot when he went to turn off his bedside lamp and got himself settled into the blankets and sheets for the night.

“I’m so fucked.” Gendry murmured to himself before he let himself slip into blissful and unconscious sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I just wanted to thank you all once again for the insanely positive response that I’ve gotten on these first two chapters, your feedback really does mean the world to me. I’m hoping that going forward, I’ll be able to update with a new chapter at least once a week if not more frequently. But thank you for reading and thank you for all your support!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya goes to Faceless Fight Club, Jealous!Gendry makes an appearance, and Arya and Gendry text a wee bit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody! So I’ve been doing a lot of planning for this fic, and I have a whole google document that’s filled with not just my notes and plans, but also a lot of extra content related to this story, so I’ve decided to start posting some of that content to my tumblr! My url is @/thestarkbitch if you couldn’t tell from my username lol, but I’ll be posting fun outtakey things like Arya’s academic schedule, picsets for various characters/settings/relationships, mini background story ficlets for anyone who wants to read those sorts of things, and a bunch of other stuff! I’ll also be taking requests for anyone who wants to see anything particular of that sort in my ask box on tumblr! My anon is on, so don’t hesitate to swing by and check that stuff out! You can find all the extra content by going to the search bar on my page and looking up “#Maybe we just don’t talk about it”. Thanks for reading! And now onto the actual chapter lol

Arya’s days at Oldtown University always had structure, order, a proper schedule determined by her classes, activities, and social happenings. Saturdays were for fun, and Sundays were there to relax, but Sunday nights were her secret. Arya would finish doing whatever the fuck she was doing by midnight as usual, but after that, it was time for Arya to sleep and for No One to wake. She would always tell Gilly that she was going out for a smoke despite the fact that she had never touched a cigarette in her life, and without fail, Gilly Craster would be sound asleep by the time she returned. No One would slip out of Arya Stark’s dormitory, past the university boundaries, and into the parts of Oldtown that the likes of Arya Stark wouldn’t dare frequent, the decrepit parts of Oldtown with crumbling factories, out-of-use warehouses, and the very pinnacle of the intrigue of the night, the meeting place of the order of the Faceless Men, the abandoned theater known as the House of Black and White. No One would come face to face with the muscled bouncer known only as The Mountain. He knew her face, he knew that she would come every Sunday, but every time he still asked for the keyword.

“Valar morghulis.” No One would say. The Mountain would bring his two forefingers to his forehead with a nod of respect.

“Valar dohaeris.” The Mountain would respond before moving aside to allow No One to crawl through the crumbling remains of what had once been a door. She was known as The Cat amongst the Faceless Men for her agility, her lightness on her feet, and her speed. The Cat would hurry through what had once been the hallways of a marvelous theater, but were now simply tunnels made up of fallen wooden beams and doors that had been knocked askew. Finally, The Cat made it to the stage, the place where she and a woman known as The Waif would be dueling. The Kindly Man stood from the seated crowd of No Ones as they surrounded the stage on all sides, as when the theater had been in use, it was a stage in the round, the audience surrounding the performers, no typical tricks of position able to work for the actors that played there to sell their ruse. The No Ones examined the opponents before placing silent bets, writing down their picks for winner and loser. The Kindly Man gestured to the weapons laying in the middle of the circular stage that were available for use that night. The Cat and The Waif eyed each weapon with curiosity, weighing each of them in their mind. After a minute, The Kindly Man spoke.

“Have the women made up their minds?” He asked, his accent never muddling his words. The Cat and The Waif looked to each other’s eyes and nodded before turning back to The Kindly Man.

“Staff.” They said in unison. The Kindly Man nodded once as several No Ones from the audience stood and removed the other weapons from the stage as The Cat and The Waif picked up their respective simple wooden staffs. Once the stage was cleared, The Cat and The Waif nodded once to one another, a simplistic sign of respect or sportsmanship in place of a bow or a handshake.

“Remember the rules. The first to bleed, to fall unconscious, or to fall from the stage loses, whichever may come first.” The Kindly Man warned. The Cat and The Waif nodded. “Begin.” The Kindly Man whispered as he sat.

And so they began.

The Waif was stronger than she looked, meaner, more cruel, with a disregard for kindness or respect once they had started. The Waif would start on the offensive, The Cat blocking every one of her blows with her own staff, yet she was nearing the edge of the stage, The Waif lunging forward and forcing her opponent backwards with each blocked blow. It quickly became clear to The Cat that her opponent did not seek to hit her to draw blood as usual, but to force her off of the stage. So when The Waif raised her staff next, The Cat nearing the lip of the stage, about to fall off, The Cat dodged, side stepping, The Waif’s staff falling on nothing as the force of the misplaced hit caused her to fall off of the stage. After a moment, The Kindly Man helped her up without a word before the dozens of No Ones placed bills in the hands of The Cat as they passed her. Once the last of the spectators had left, The Cat made her way back through the ruined tunnels that had once been hallways and out of the House of Black and White. As she stepped out into the night air, she was Arya Stark once more, hurrying back to Oldtown University, back to her dorm, back to her room, and back in her bed, a smile on her face as she slipped her earnings into a small safe before crawling into bed for the night.

•

When Arya woke in the morning, she checked her phone first thing, smiling as she noted the text from Gendry. It was 10:04 am, and she had plenty of time before she needed to be at Tarly for anthro.

 **Gendry:** _I spent the weekend avoiding W*llow, and now I am paying the price. She walked into Tarly this morning, saw me, and when I said “Good morning!” she just scowled and went “I hope you had a good weekend.” in a tone that definitely did not imply that she really hoped that I had a good weekend. She looks like she’s gonna kill me, I’m gonna die, Arya, I’m really gonna die. She’s gonna murder me._

 **Arya:** _Don’t be such a baby, she’s like 92 pounds at most. You could totally take her in a fight._

 **Gendry:** _I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she pulled a gun on me. The noon class can’t come fast enough._

 **Arya:** _What are you doing now?_

 **Gendry:** _Suffering._

 **Arya:** _Yeah no shit, Sherlock, but where?_

 **Gendry:** _I’m in Selmy’s room in Tarly, and supposedly doing office hours, but W*llow is just sulking in the middle of the classroom and glaring at me and it’s warding off any students that might act as a savior. Fuck, she just reached into her purse to grab something, I think this might be it. Tell my Mott’s shirt that I always loved her._

 **Arya:** _Calm down, drama queen, I suddenly don’t know what anthropology is and need to ask my wonderfully helpful TA some questions._

 **Gendry:** _You are my god now._

Arya rolled her eyes and fought off a grin as she quickly slipped on a plain blue t-shirt and a pair of ratty light wash jeans before heading over to the Tarly building of social sciences, quickly making her way to Selmy’s classroom. She knocked on the door to the classroom twice, and almost immediately, it swung open to reveal Gendry Waters. He mouthed the words _thank you_ before they started on her script of excuses for coming into office hours.

“Why hello Arya, how can I help you today?” He asked, trying to keep himself from laughing as she grinned at him.

“Hello Mr. Waters! I’m just wondering if you could help me look over this summary that I wrote for chapters one and two. I’m having trouble tying in the area of inquiry into the relevance on the history of the Hmong. Do you think you could help me out?” She asked, struggling to keep the grin from her face as he nodded and stepped aside to welcome her into the classroom.

“Willow, this is a student in the major, Ar—” Gendry started as he and Arya began to make their way to the front of the classroom, but he was cut off by his shadow.

“I’ve met her already, you don’t need to keep introducing me to people whose company you prefer to keep to mine.” Willow said cooly, her voice almost a hiss. Arya got chills when she looked at the woman sitting in the middle of the classroom, her brown eyes slanted in a glare. Arya looked at Gendry, trying hard not to laugh, unsure if her desire to do so was coming from a place of amusement or of fear. It looked like he was doing the same, so they both turned away from Willow so as to not further upset her.

“I’m just here to have him look over my review.” Arya offered as she put her bag down by her usual seat. Willow didn’t react, simply keeping her attention on the book open in front of her. Gendry exchanged a look with his student, seeming to say _see what I mean?_

“Okay, so what specific issues were you having?” He asked as she pulled her laptop out of her bag. Arya typed in her password quickly, fighting off a grin as she pulled up the document with her review.

“Well, I was just hoping that you could read over it and let me know what specifically would need tweaking.” She said, turning the screen over to Gendry. A grin slowly spread over her face as her TA’s blue eyes widened while he read the title of the document.

“Are you sure that this is the review you want me to be reading?” He asked, his voice catching in his throat. Arya nodded innocently, eyes wide and wicked.

“Yeah, this is the review I told you that I’d have. I just wanna make sure that I didn’t get any inaccuracies in it.” She said, struggling to keep the smirk off of her lips as he gave a careful look of disbelief. Arya subtly arched her left brow as if to challenge him, almost daring him to call her out. But he didn’t. He just shook his head as if to say _what have I gotten myself into?_

+

The title of the document was _An in-depth review of Gendry Waters in relation to his sexual performance_. It was the fucking dick review. She’d actually written it and was asking him to review it. In front of Willow. He was a dead man. Gendry lowered the brightness on Arya’s laptop screen so that if Willow happened to get curious and glance over, she wouldn’t see the actual title of the paper and get his ass kicked out of Oldtown University. He shot a look at Arya, who was winning a fight to keep her face relatively innocent and neutral, but he could see the amused mischief in her wide grey eyes. Then, probably against his better judgement, Gendry began to read the paper.

_On a Wednesday night in November, Gendry Waters and I both happened to be out at a popular bar in Oldtown called The Peach. We also both happened to be a little too shitfaced, a little too confident, and a little too horny, and we ended up having sex at his apartment. Now this would have been fine if it weren’t for the fact that I am a student majoring in a class that he helps teach alongside Dr. Barristan Selmy._

_Some of the downsides to sleeping with Gendry have included the loss of a beloved shirt, the unintentional gain of one of his t-shirts, a lot of annoying texts, and a lot of unnecessary sexual tension during a class that I have four times a week for 90 minutes at a time. Some of the upsides to sleeping with Gendry have included one (1) pleasant conversation over the phone, a lot of witty banter that isn’t entirely excruciating 100% of the time, and stimulating conversations about social and cultural anthropology with someone else who is truly enthusiastic about the subject._

_If you’re looking for a casual one night stand with no strings attached, do skip over this one, because that is not what you will get. I intended to never speak to him about what happened after the fact, and yet five days later, I still have his number saved in my phone with regular texts coming in, and no shirt to show for it. I have begun to think him a bit of a creep. Gendry himself has claimed that he is not a Super Creep, yet the evidence is stacked against him. He is still holding onto my dearest shirt like it’s some sort of trophy that serial killers keep from their victims, he was able to access my personal cell phone number without the help of someone who already has it (although he alleges he was only able to do so through the student information tab on the class website), and going off of that, he actually slept with me, his student, in the first place and has kept in steady contact with me, breaking a number of university regulations._

_All in all, Gendry Waters is a good time in bed, and if you’re looking to have deeply enriching discussions on anthropology mixed in with a lot of annoyingly witty banter while waiting on the return of a shirt for 5+ days after the fact, then he’s the right guy for you._

When had reached the end of the document, Gendry was grateful and quite proud of himself for the fact that he had managed not to blush throughout reading the entire paper. He then closed Arya’s laptop and turned to face her as she waited for some sort of commentary with a deceivingly innocent expression.

“I’ll be sure to leave some comments on it later if you would be so kind as to share the document with me.” He said, the tiniest hints of a grin tugging at the corner of his lips as Arya grabbed her laptop back to connect it to the charging cord that she had plugged in while he had been looking over the review.

“I’ll be sure to do that.” She replied, smiling as she winked subtly. Gendry fought off a grin as he shook his head in a sort of disbelief before getting up and walking to return to his own desk, opening up his laptop to the day’s lecture notes.

About ten minutes later, at 11:45am, students began to slowly trickle into the classroom, each taking their seats as they opened their laptops and got out their copies of the text, socializing amongst themselves as he readied the presentation he had created to pair with the day’s lecture. Arya was chatting with Callom Becker, who had inexplicably ignored his usual spot next to Charlie Dixon in the mid-left of the third row to sit in the typically empty spot right next to Arya. The brown haired Stark had launched into what the TA was sure was an intriguing and hilarious story by her excited smile and sparkling grey eyes, and he really shouldn’t have cared at all about what he was seeing, truly. But Gendry began to feel his jaw clenching and his grip on a pen tightening as he watched Lommy leaning in closer to the other student, the blond guy’s tongue quickly darting out to lick his lips, his hand moving to touch Arya’s arm as he pretended to laugh at whatever it was that she was saying, his blue eyes frequently stealing glances at her soft lips, his body far too close to hers to be platonic. Arya didn’t seem to notice at all, she just kept rattling on with whatever story she was telling, but Gendry could clearly see that the other student was attracted to her.

Gendry looked at the time on his watch. _11:50 am._ It was ten minutes before class was supposed to start. If he began right then, it would present an unfair disadvantage to students who hadn’t arrived more than ten minutes early, which was about half the class. However, if he waited to start on time, he’d be forced to sit and watch this bullshit go down in the first row, unable to do anything without compromising his and Arya’s secret, and along with it, his job.

 _There’s really nothing wrong here. It’s just a couple of my students flirting with each other before class. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. Really. There is no logical reason to start class early, not a single one. Not even if I feel like I’m going to strangle that Becker kid if he keeps that shit up for another minute. Nope. Everything’s perfectly fine and I’m 100% okay with everything today. Today is perfect. Today is fantastic. I love my life right now._ Gendry thought to himself. He knew that he shouldn’t be jealous, he had no right to be. He and Arya had only hooked up once (or three times, depending on how you count sexual encounters that occur concurrently within the same night), and despite all the texts, the phone call, and the dick review, he really had no reason to believe that their further communications were anything more than playful teasing that accidentally came off as flirtatious. He knew that he really shouldn’t be jealous, he didn’t even know if Lommy was into her like that. He and Arya had been good friends from the beginning of the school year, just because it looked like they were flirting didn’t necessarily mean— actually fuck that, the little bastard had just put his hand on her knee and she wasn’t smiling anymore. Gendry looked down at his yellow digital watch. _11:53._ Most of the students still weren’t there, but Lommy was whispering something in her ear and Arya looked uncomfortable and scared. _Fuck it._

“Okay everybody, good morning! If you haven’t already, please pull up your notes for the day and turn to page 7 of The Spirit Catches You, where we’ll be starting with a brief overview and whole class discussion of chapters one and two. Please head back to your regular seats if you have migrated from them, and we’ll begin.” Gendry declared, standing up and powering on the SMART Board behind him. At the request for students to head back to their regular seats, Lommy began to gather his belongings, albeit somewhat reluctantly, and returned to his usual spot next to Hot Pie. As he got up to leave, Arya made eye contact with Gendry.

“ _Thank you._ ” She mouthed, and he gave her the quickest, most subtle nod that he could in response.

The class went by seemingly quick, and the students who hadn’t shown up early hadn’t missed too much, which Gendry was counting as a win. The discussion had engaged the whole class, as nearly every student had some sentiment about the first two chapters to express, making the TA feel quite proud of himself. By the end of the class, even Willow was in a good mood as the students began to head out. Gendry watched to make sure that Lommy didn’t try anything, as he and Hot Pie typically left the classroom with Arya. He didn’t end up getting the chance as Arya had left immediately after the class ended with another student, Megga Tyrell. Gendry assumed (and hoped) that her rushed exist was because of Lommy and not himself.

After the last of the students had left, Willow approached him, and he held his breath, bracing himself for a weird and potentially verbally violent confrontation. But she didn’t look angry. If anything, she looked embarrassed.

“Hey, I’d like to apologize for my behavior this morning. I was completely out of line, which is completely unlike me. I guess it’s just because I’m new to the area and don’t really know anybody yet plus the fact that I’m shadowing you, I assumed that you would show me around over the weekend. You seem like a really cool guy, and you’re great at getting people excited about the study material, which is really rare, especially in someone so young. I was just really impressed by you and I incorrectly assumed that because you were assigned to let me observe you that you’d be able to drop your weekend plans just to show me around. I’m sorry if I came off harsh and accusatory, I think I just got a little jealous when you were showing that student so much attention. It was a stupid assumption to make, and I realize now that you’re just a good teacher who cares about his students. I don’t want to leave this week with you thinking that I’m just some bitch who complains all the time. If you’d be up for it, I’d like to show you who I really am sometime, maybe outside of campus.” Willow offered, her brown eyes sheepish yet filled with hope. The poor girl was probably very sweet, maybe she could even show him a good time out on the town, but he found himself unable to accept her invitation for what would likely be an innocent date.

“Oh god, don’t worry about it, apology accepted. And I appreciate the offer, Willow, I really do, it’s just that I’m not really available right now. You seem like a wonderful person, but I’m sort of trying to get with a particular someone at the moment. I couldn’t go out with you in good faith, even if it was just one date. I’m sorry.” Gendry said, hoping the slow and slightly pained pace of his words would soften the blow. It somehow seemed to work, as she nodded in understanding.

“You’re totally fine, you don’t need to be sorry. Whoever she is, she’s a lucky woman, and I hope you can get her.” Willow offered, her voice small as she gave a pained smile. Gendry nodded before going to collect his things as Willow collected hers.

He left Tarly in a hurry, a thousand thoughts swirling through his head, most of them about Arya. What scared him the most was that the comment about trying to get with someone else didn’t even feel like a lie when he said it. But it had been a lie. Right? He couldn’t seriously be pursuing a relationship with his student. It was one thing when it had just been a one night stand, a drunken mistake that neither of them had intended to happen, because that’s all it was. They’d gotten drunk, they’d had sex, and all they had to do was just return their shirts, never talk about it again, and that would be that. But now? Now was complicated. Now was weird. Now there were meaningful phone conversations, flirtatious texts, running jokes, and a whole fuckload of feelings that really shouldn’t have gotten as far out of control as they had in only five days. Gendry knew that he should break it off, whatever _it_ even was. He should just mail her red shirt to the PO box at her dorm and have her do the same for his. He would then delete her number, and be done with it, easy peasy. But when he got on the bus and opened up his phone, he noticed that he had a new message from Arya, and all thoughts of ending their strange flirtationship flew out the window along with his better judgement.

 **Arya:** _I shared the review with you btw;)_

+

Arya had enlisted the help of Megga Tyrell to get her out of Selmy’s classroom as quickly as possible so she wouldn’t have to leave with Lommy and Hot Pie like she usually did. Before class started, Lommy had sat next to her in the front row after she’d texted the group-chat they had with Hot Pie explaining that she had some a hilarious story to tell involving her Uncle Edmure, her brother Bran, and a fuckload of weed. It really wasn’t all that spectacular of a story in retrospect. All that had happened was that Edmure had been up North for work over the weekend, had told her parents that he would watch Bran while they took Rickon to his rugby tournament, and they ended up inviting Edmure’s girlfriend Roslin, Bran’s girlfriend Meera, and Meera’s brother Jojen over to the house to smoke weed. Bran had texted the Stark siblings group-chat about it, providing pictures of their uncle doing bong rips as evidence. But about three quarters into the story, Arya began to notice just how close Lommy was to her, and she froze up when his hand rested on the part of her thigh just above her knee, almost terrified when he whispered the words _you look so hot when you’re laughing, you know that?_ directly into her ear. She’d stopped speaking, appalled that her friend would say that, _especially_ while in such a public and incredibly non-sexual setting. It was then that Gendry had saved the day, standing up and beginning the class with a request that all students make their way back to their typical seats. She’d never been more grateful for her TA than in that moment.

During the lecture, she’d texted Megga Tyrell via iMessage on her laptop.

 **Arya:** _Hey Megs, could I ask you to do me a quick favor?_

 **Megga:** _Yeah totally! What do you need? Tampon? Pens? Concealer? Alibi?_

 **Arya:** _Lol, none of that. Could you walk me out of class when it’s over? I don’t wanna leave with Lommy and Hot Pie today bc Lommy’s being a creep._

 **Megga:** _Oh god, yeah, of course! I saw the way he was like groping your leg before class started. Thank god for Waters and his enthusiasm, amirite?_

 **Arya:** _Indeed, thank god for Waters and his enthusiasm._

Megga had hurried over to Arya from her usual spot in the middle of the right block of desks as soon as the clock struck 1:30, ushering her away and out of the door as quickly as humanly possible. They’d gone straight into the nearest girls’ bathroom after leaving the class, the curvy blonde making sure to ask a million questions to ensure that her friend was alright, only relenting when Arya assured her that she’d been through far worse than Callom Becker being horny on main at inappropriate times. Megga had laughed loudly before spending the next five minutes touching up her makeup by the mirror and chattering on about her cousin Margaery’s new internship with the governor of The Reach’s public relations office. Arya knew that she was only staying to really make sure that she was okay, and she appreciated her greatly for it. Eventually, the two parted ways so that Megga could make her acting course at the Crane Hall of the arts across campus on time. As soon as her friend was out of sight, Arya opened her phone and pulled up her messages. There was one from Lommy that he’d sent to her privately, which she knew would be addressing the incident before class as just about all of their communications went into the group-chat they shared with Hot Pie.

 **Lommy:** _Hey I just wanted to apologize for this morning. I was completely out of line and there’s no excuse for saying what I said. I’m an ass, and I won’t blame you if you never wanna talk to me again. I probably deserve it. But I just want you to know how sorry I am. I’ve just been going through a rough time with the whole breakup fiasco and in a moment of weakness, I hit on you. I just have been hurt, and you’re a wonderful friend and I seized the situation, and I’m really sorry if you felt uncomfortable. It won’t happen again._

Arya rolled her eyes as she closed out their messages. She’d hoped that Lommy would be better than to disguise a shitty excuse for his perviness as a half-assed apology, but she wouldn’t get hung up on it. Instead, she turned her attention to her documents app, grinning to herself as she shared the dick review with Gendry before deciding to text him about it.

 **Arya:** _I shared the review with you btw;)_

After sending the text, she looked at the time. It was 1:54 pm, so she began to make her way to Dr. Luwin Masters’ classroom for her two o’clock intro to psych course. It was a fairly large class compared to her other ones, made up of about sixty students, most of whom were already there. She took her usual spot next to the aisle on the right of the middle block of seats, opening up her laptop to her psychology notes. The class went by quickly as Dr. Masters lectured about the chicken and the egg debate when it came to SSRIs and depression. She took fairly detailed notes throughout the lecture, allowing herself to get lost in the work, distracting her from the weird Lommy shit and the ever-present weird Gendry shit. When the class let out, she made her way over to the Crane Hall of the arts for her mixed genre dance minor, a class taught by esteemed choreographer, Syrio Forel. She stretched, warmed up, listened to her professor’s instructions, and began to work out the choreography, listening to Syrio’s sharply accented voice as he called out comments of critique and praise. Soon, the class was over and she was breathing heavily as she changed out of her sports bra and athletic leggings back into her regular solid color t-shirt and tattered light wash jeans. She had just arrived back into her dorm and had plopped down on her bed when she decided to check her messages, smiling as she noticed a text notification from Gendry.

 **Gendry:** _I gotta say Arya, your dick review was a little underwhelming. I’m unimpressed._

 **Arya:** _Well I shared it with you so you could give me feedback, so are you just gonna insult me or are you gonna tell me what’s wrong with me insulting you?_

 **Gendry:** _Well, the title implies that there would be a discussion of actual sex, which there wasn’t. The review is really just on what happened in the days after the hookup._

 **Arya:** _I see what you’re saying. Not enough explicitly graphic sex talk for ya?_

**Gendry:** _You should know I only take my dick reviews in the form of x-rated self-insert fanfiction. If there isn’t a whole chapter dedicated to y/n sucking dick, then what is it even for?_

**Arya:** _In my defense, I don’t remember very many precise details from that night. It’s all pretty blurry cuz ya know. I was insanely drunk. Kinda makes reviewing it in great detail a bit difficult when you can’t really remember what happened too clearly._

**Gendry:** _Maybe we need to try again sober._

Arya’s grey eyes went wide as she sat up in her bed, reading that text over and over again. She was so stunned that she didn’t even think that her prolonged silence could be concerning to him. 

**Gendry:** _Fuck, I’m sorry, did I cross a line? I fucked up there didn’t I?_

**Arya:** _Are you at your apartment right now?_

**Gendry:** _Yeah, why?_

**Arya:** _Are you alone?_

**Gendry:** _I’m alone._

**Arya:** _Then let’s try again sober._

**Gendry:** _Are you sure?_

**Arya:** _I’m sure._

**Gendry:** _Do you have my address?_

**Arya:** _I just need your apartment number._

**Gendry** _I’m in 3F._

**Arya:** _Omw._

Arya then ordered an Uber, using the location records from the last time she’d been at Gendry’s for her destination address. She ran a brush through her hair and freshened up a little before stepping out of the bathroom, grabbing her purse, and slipping on her red converse. Gilly was sat on her bed surrounded by highlighters and pens, annotating a copy of Tess of the d’Urbervilles when Arya opened the door, pausing to give an excuse as to where she’d be going before leaving. 

“Hey Gil, I’m gonna go have dinner at Robb and Talisa’s, I might not be back until late.” She said, earning a distracted nod from Gilly before she hurried down the stairs, out of the dormitory, and out to the street where her Uber was waiting. She got into the backseat of the car, buckling in her seatbelt as the driver pulled away from the university. 

As the driver stopped in front of Gendry’s building, Arya supposed that she should feel nervous, but she didn’t. She pressed the buzzer for apartment 3F, and he let her up immediately. She made her way up the stairs, heart pounding in her chest, a foreign emotion that was something akin to both excitement and calm washing over her as she knocked on his door. It swung open a moment later, revealing Gendry in his casual at-home clothes. He was wearing clean grey sweatpants and a white muscle tee, his hair having been roused from its neat and tidy combed-back style likely from his own hands running through it. He looked down at her with uncertain blue eyes, as if he wasn’t really sure this was happening or if it even should be. 

“Hey,” Gendry said, his voice low and raspy as he stood, frozen in the doorway, before she crashed forward, taking his face in her hands and bringing her lips to his, and thus breaking the spell of uncertainty that morality had set in place. He responded right away, his right hand laying flat against the small of her back as he used it to pull her inside, her kicking the door shut behind them. Once the door was closed, he pulled her even closer to him, wrapping his arms around her waist as their lips continued to collide with a hunger. Her small and deft fingers were quick to hook under the hem of his shirt, tugging upwards impatiently before he broke the kiss to allow her to remove it, discarding it carelessly before moving to do the same for hers, leaving her in only her white bralette and jeans. Arya then brought his face back down to hers, biting his lower lip, practically growling as she grasped a fistful of his dark, black hair. She was daring him to take control, tempting him to fight for dominance, and she had the upper hand. Gendry responded by grabbing a fistful of her own hair, pulling it back just hard enough to force her to look into his eyes, pupils dilated with lust and longing. 

“You’re mine,” He growled, ignoring her swollen red lips, neglecting to look at her tits that were covered only in a fine white-lace bralette, looking only into her eyes. She nodded, a hunger in her face before she kissed him again. 

“I’m yours,” She agreed as he lifted her up so that her legs were wrapped around his waist. “And you are mine.” She finished as she nipped at his ear. At that, he grunted as if in agreement before practically slamming her down onto his wide and soft couch, dragging open mouthed kisses away from her mouth, down her jaw, pausing at the pulse point on her neck to graze his teeth across the gentle skin there before sucking a hickey into it, marking her. His large hands worked to take off her bra as she wriggled free of her jeans and was about to remove her underpants as well before Gendry grabbed her wrist, stopping her. 

“That’s my job.” He said, his voice a low growl, an animalistic grin taking over his face as she nodded in crazed approval. Gendry kneaded her breasts in his hands, her tits just big enough to fill them as he continued to mark her neck, collarbones, and chest before making his way down her stomach. It was there that he stopped to admire his handiwork. He sat back on his knees, gazing proudly at the beautiful woman lying in front of him, impatiently grinding her hips against the couch cushions as he gently ran his fingertips up and down her thighs, her stomach, her tits, watching the hair on her skin stand up as she got goosebumps, frantic moans begging him to just please do _something_. 

He moved his mouth between her legs, pressing hot, open mouthed kisses to the soft flesh of her inner thighs, pausing to exhale a flash of hot breath over her sex, still covered by her panties before moving onto the other thigh. His thumb began to lightly rub over her hardened clit through the fabric of her underpants while he kissed her thighs, grinning at her every gasp and moan. She was dripping with slick desire by the time he was pulling off her panties and pressing his mouth to her cunt, his large hands hooked around her hips to lay flat against her stomach, pressing down whenever she tried to buck up. She came undone as he sucked on her clit, gasping heavily as he made his way back up to lazily kiss her lips. She smiled against his lips as they kissed while he began to push his sweatpants and boxers down, blindly reaching over to the coffee table where his wallet lay, fumbling around for a second before he managed to grab a foil square out of the cash section, tearing it open and rolling the latex onto his length. Arya reached down between them to grab his already fully erect cock, earning a groan from Gendry as she positioned him at her entrance. 

“You ready?” He asked, stopping to look into her grey eyes that looked almost looked black in the moonlight that shone through the panels of his window blinds. She nodded as he crashed his lips against hers before he slammed into her, earning him a gasp of surprise and pleasure. 

“Jesus Christ,” Arya breathed as he began to slowly pull out of her. “Keep going.” She whispered against his lips, giving him all the encouragement he needed to begin thrusting in and out of her, their two bodies moving in unison on top of the couch whose seats were just wide enough to be able to fuck comfortably on. Gendry grazed his teeth along the skin of her forehead as her lips dragged across the dip in between his neck and his chest, their two bodies wet with sweat, salvia, and slick desire as they moved in a rhythm, like they were dancing to the beat of a drum. Normally, at a few minutes into the act, Arya would get bored and want to switch it up a bit, but this was different. Gendry on top of and inside her in that manner was just so _perfect_ that she didn’t want to fuck it up by switching positions. As his movements started to get more sporadic, he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, locking his eyes on her own. Arya clenched her inner walls around his cock, and he came, cursing loudly as the pleasure rode through him. Gendry collapsed next to her, sliding out of her as he did. He then sat up on the edge of the couch, panting as he removed the condom, tying it before standing and heading to his bathroom to toss it in the wastebasket there. Before leaving, he’d tied a towel around his waist so he wouldn’t be completely naked when he came back out. When he returned, Arya had grabbed a blanket of his and had wrapped it around her shoulders, now sat up as she watched him approach. He sat down next to her, the two of them sitting in a heavy silence as they felt the weight of what they had just down crushing them slowly. 

“Well... We should talk about this.” Gendry said finally. Arya nodded. 

“Yeah. We should.” She said in agreement as she pulled the blanket closer around her shoulders. 

“So what was that? Was that just sex, or did that happen because there are feelings?” He asked, turning to look at Arya as he did, his brows furrowed in anticipation of her answer. She took a deep breath before responding, not looking back at him, but rather staring straight ahead. 

“It should’ve been just sex. But it wasn’t. I think I speak for the both of us when I say that we just had sex because there are feelings. At least, there are feelings on my side.” She turned her head slowly to look at him, searching for an answer, their eyes meeting before he took her face in his hands and pressed a kiss to her lips, assuring her without words that he felt the same. It wasn’t a kiss of hunger or passion, it was one of relief, as if they were two war torn lovers reconnecting after years apart. Arya found herself lightly grabbing his wrists as they kissed, their lips gently moving against one another before separating, foreheads touching, eyes closed. When Arya opened her eyes, she took a deep breath before pulling away from his face, hating the words that she was about to say. 

“We can’t keep doing this.” She whispered, her voice pained as she did. Gendry nodded in understanding disappointment. 

“No, we can’t, can we?” He sighed. Arya turned her head to look at him, and when he turned to face her, he noticed that her eyes were back to their typical lighter grey in the moonlight that shined through his window. 

“I want to be with you, Gendry. I really do. But if someone at the university found out about us, you’d get kicked out before you could earn your master’s degree, and you’d be out of a job. I don’t think I could live with being the reason for that.” She murmured, her wide eyes shining with the slightest hint of tears. He couldn’t see her cry, not over him. He wouldn’t let her. 

“Well, I think I’d be okay. I could always go back to King’s Landing, continue working at Mott’s. I could even send you a t-shirt since you like mine so much that you won’t give it back.” Gendry teased, nudging her in the side, and he smiled as she giggled at the joke. “I’m also EMT certified, so I could just spend the rest of my days in this tiny apartment in Oldtown when I’m not out saving uni kids like yourself from death by alcohol poisoning.” He continued to tease, his heart clenching in his chest as she rested her head against his shoulder, wrapping her deft little hands around the crook in his arm. 

“In all seriousness, Gendry, I don’t want to break this off. You really are just _spectacular_. But you’re also employed by the university. I can come early on Monday and give you back your shirt, and then I guess that’ll be that. And maybe, if we still have feelings for each other by May, we can try again when you’re not my teacher.” She offered, craning her head to look up at him from where chin was resting on his shoulder. Gendry looked down at her and smiled a soft, wistful smile. 

“Sounds like a plan.” He whispered, his voice pained as he did so. Arya then reached up and ran a thumb across his cheek, her grey eyes meeting his blue. 

“But you know, I would say that we don’t have to officially break this off until I leave your apartment. And it’s only… 8:47 pm.” She arched her left brow in the most subtle suggestive way as Gendry nodded back at her, the two of them deciding to make the most of their last hours together. As she kissed him, she swung a leg over his until she was straddling his lap, the blanket falling off of her naked body, the moonlight shining against her soft, pale skin. Gendry slid his hands up and down her back, but when his thumb slid over a small scar-like bump on her rib cage, she winced and he paused. He looked at the scab that he had just discovered before turning his gaze back to her face, his brows furrowed in concern. 

“Arya, what happened here?” He asked, visibly concerned about her wellbeing. She smiled and shook her head. 

“Just this thing I do on Sunday nights. It’s like fight club with weapons.” She said it so casually that he almost wasn’t alarmed. 

“Weapons? Like guns and knives and shit? How’d you even get into that sort of thing?” He asked, but she stopped him with a laugh. 

“Gendry, what’s the first rule of fight club?” She asked, speaking as if she were an amused mother chiding a little boy. He sighed in almost amused frustration. 

“Don’t talk about fight club.” He relented. She nodded. 

“Exactly.” Arya then settled herself over the place where the towel was starting to form a tent, returning her lips to his, and Gendry forgot all about the fight club with weapons, the somewhat illegal nature of their relationship, and the fact that as soon as she walked out of his door, this would be over. Nothing mattered in that moment, nothing except the way she felt against him and the way her lips were moving against his soft and warm and real. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay wow so THAT happened. To be perfectly honest, I really was not planning on having them get together in this chapter, it just sort of happened. It was like the scene wrote itself, it was crazy, I never paused to think about what was happening next while writing that scene, it all just came to me like a vision from a horny god. But after writing that, I can honestly say that I think it'll only help to build to the ending that I have in mind, which I'm excited about. But I also really wanted to include the Faceless Men in this somehow, and this "fight club with weapons" will be relevant again later;) And also a huge thank you to all of you guys commenting and supporting me and getting me to keep writing this! I love you all so much, you have no idea how much I appreciate and treasure every one of your comments. As stated in the notes from last chapter, I intend to have a new chapter up at least once every week, and I have just made the cut off with this update lol, but I intend to stay true to that. Thanks so much for reading!!!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gendry and Arya make the most of their last hours together, Gendry gets angsty, and the works of Edgar Allan Poe get involved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes before reading: I'm so sorry that this chapter is up late! I was going to have it up yesterday, but then my friends invited me to come with them to break into an abandoned mansion, and then after that I forgot about _all_ of the things that I was supposed to do. BUT here she is! Chapter 5! Thank you for your patience!  
> Another note: Mya Stone and Edric Storm from the books in this fic are Mya Waters and Edric Waters and are Gendry's full biological siblings and were raised by their mother together. I always write Gendry's mother to be a woman named Ella Waters in any fic, so that's what her name is here. Also I'm very sorry about the emojis for anyone reading this on anything but an iPhone.  
> One last note: The Edgar Allan Hoe in me jumped out because I just found my old copy of Poe's complete tales and poems and I used this fic as a medium to rant about how much I loved the epic poem Tamerlane, so please forgive my rambling lol.  
> Thank you so so much for reading!

Arya had ended up staying the night at his apartment. Gendry had decided not to press the whole “fight club with weapons” thing when she assured him that she was in no real danger because of it after they’d fucked on his couch for the second time. When they did eventually move to his bedroom, Arya made a point of making sure that all her clothes and belongings were all in one pile so they wouldn’t end up with another shirt fiasco, the two of them chuckling about it softly.

They had fucked in a crazed frenzy when she first came in, the desperate and feral horniness of their bodies usurping the reign of their actions from their minds before either of them could’ve thought to pause. After they had come to the conclusion that they’d be breaking things off once she left the apartment, they had fucked softly and tenderly on the couch, Arya’s legs straddling his as she had rocked back and forth as he moved gently inside her. Arya and Gendry had taken their time then, kissing lazily as they rocked slowly in time with one another. The purpose of the fucking that time had not been to satiate their mutual lust but simply to experience closeness with the other. They’d climaxed at the same time then, smiling afterwards before getting up and moving to Gendry’s bedroom, agreeing that his queen sized bed would be better, as his sofa was roughly the size of a twin bed. When they got to his bedroom, they didn’t go straight to fucking. They took their time to come down from the last fuck, talking and cuddling for a good half hour or so, swimming in a sea of sheets with the ever-present passage of time looming like a storm on the horizon, the two of them hoping to drown in anthropological discussion before the morning would come to steal away their life preservers of denial.

At 9:34 pm, the conversation had started to take a sexy turn again, and Arya had made it clear that she wanted to go down on him by saying just that, adding _if you don’t mind_ before making a move to do it. At that, Gendry had laughed before assuring her that his desire for her to go down on him was far beyond simply _not minding_. She’d grinned when he spoke the affirmation, planting a soft and chaste kiss on his lip before trailing her lips across the rough stubble of his cheeks, then jaw, settling just below his Adam’s apple to bite ever-so-lightly at his neck before sucking a hickey into the tender flesh, marking him tit for tat. Arya had continued kissing down his torso, biting lightly at his clavicle, licking and sucking at his pecs, tracing the valleys of his muscled abdomen with the tip of her tongue before she finally reached the hem of his boxers. She had looked up at him and grinned wickedly before slowly hooking her fingers around the waistband and tugging down.

Gendry had always known that he was rather big, but it wasn’t something he ever really boasted about. He always held the belief that if a woman was going to get with him, they’d do it because there was already chemistry and a mutual attraction, not just because she just wanted a big dick. He also held firm in the belief that a large cock meant nothing for a woman’s pleasure if her partner didn’t know how to use it properly, and that, if anything, a big dick on an untalented lover would just prove to be painful and uncomfortable rather than pleasurable, and sex was never good for him if it wasn’t good for the person he was doing it with. Gendry had always credited his good performance in bed with his strong ability to follow his partner’s physical cues, his sexual open mindedness, and his strong communication skills. But when Arya’s round, grey eyes had widened with surprise and impress when she released his manhood from the confines of his boxers, Gendry couldn’t help but feel pretty damn proud of his huge size. She’d already felt the whole of him inside her, and she’d already given him head once before, but that had been while they were absolutely shitfaced. She’d never really gotten a good, sober look at his cock, and there it was, erect in all its massive glory. Her grey eyes were wide and sparkling with impress as she took it carefully in her left hand, handling him like an ancient relic. Arya had then proceeded to make a few jabs about him holding out on her as she’d teased him a bit with her hot breath and the tip of her tongue before he’d rebutted with the point that he didn’t see how a lack of _her_ performing oral sex on _him_ equates to him holding out on her. After hearing his comment, Arya didn’t give him the verbal satisfaction of logical victory, but rather the physical satisfaction of a blowjob, which did shut him up.

They’d done a lot in those last hours that they had spent together. They’d fucked in a number of different places and positions, they’d talked about deep and meaningful subjects, they’d taunted and teased each other with wit and jokes, and they’d even showered together before crawling into his bed to sleep with only two hours left on the clock before they would have to wake again to start the day and with it, the end of their time together. The sheer ease and familiarity of it all was nothing short of excruciatingly painful if Gendry thought about it for too long, so whenever thoughts of the impending morning after began to creep into his mind, he just distracted himself with Arya, getting lost in her mind as they spoke or getting lost in her body as they fucked.

But now, that had passed. She had finished getting dressed and collecting her few belongings by 7:53 am, seven minutes before Gendry’s alarm would go off. He’d lain in bed, breathing slow and steady, feigning sleep as she did a final sweep of his apartment to be sure that she wasn’t leaving anything behind. He’d felt an unfounded desire to know what she would do if she thought him unconscious, to know for certain just how much their night together had meant to her, to know how easy or difficult it would be for her to leave. Arya was just opening the front door of the apartment, about to leave, Gendry’s heart falling in his chest when she stopped. There was a silence as the world stood still, waiting for her next move. He had positioned himself on his stomach in such a way so that he could keep one eye open to watch her movements without her being able to see as a fold in his sheets obstructed her view. Arya closed the apartment door and tip toed silently back into Gendry’s bedroom, pausing in the doorway to watch him for a moment. He didn’t have the clearest view, but he thought he saw her wiping a tear from her eye as she took a tentative step towards him. Then, suddenly, something hanging in his closet caught her attention. Her grey eyes went wide as she quickly and silently approached, and Gendry began to curse himself as she stepped out of his line of vision. But he knew what she was seeing, what she was getting. It was her red shirt. The silk one with the spaghetti straps that still smelled of tequila, sweat, and her minty body soap. A twisted and selfish part of him had hoped that she wouldn’t find it, or that if she did, some odd circumstance would bar her from taking it. She then hurried out of the room and Gendry’s heart broke when he heard his apartment door close behind her.

He let himself lie in his bed for several minutes, soaking in his own heartbreak and despair before his alarm clock started blaring from across the room, forcing him to get up and turn it off. Gendry trudged to his bathroom, taking a piss, brushing his teeth, and combing down his hair to give himself some semblance of a professional look. He went through the motions of his morning routine without any of his usual pep or enthusiasm, putting on a clean, white undershirt underneath a solid green button up that he would roll up to his mid forearms to remind the students (and himself) that he wasn’t nearly as strict and serious as Selmy and that when he was leading the lectures, they could have some fun. But at the moment, fun was the last thing he wanted to have, his only desire being to wallow in self pity and indulge in his slow and lazy grief until he was able to get over her. Gendry was about to leave his apartment, ready to face whatever bullshit the coming day had in store for him when he remembered that he had left his laptop charger plugged into the wall by his bed. It was when he went to unplug the cord and stuff it in his bag that he noticed it. Gendry’s brows furrowed for a moment, his face scrunched up the slightest bit until the initial confusion gave way to a small and bittersweet wave of almost-hope.

In his closet, draped on a wire coat hanger, dangling amongst his own jackets and shirts and button downs, was Arya’s red top, the silk material shining as the first rays of sunlight lit it up like a holy shrine. She had seen it, but she had left it. The smallest ghost of a smile flashed across Gendry’s lips as he shook his head in disbelief. Maybe there was a bit of hope for them yet.

-

The nine AM anthro class was insanely hard for Gendry to get through. Arya was sitting front and center as usual, and if he weren’t so goddamn weak willed, it wouldn’t have been a problem. The soul was more than willing to avoid looking at Arya at all, sparing him hurt and awkwardness galore, but to his great frustration, Gendry found that the flesh would have its way. Every ten seconds or so, he found himself involuntarily eyeing the spots on her neck where her pale skin was slightly discolored, the concealer she’d applied to her hickeys only able to do its job so well considering how hard he’d sucked and bitten at her throat the previous night. He began to curse his past self for being so fucking horny as it was now causing his current self to think back to all the touches, moans, kisses, gasps, gropes, sighs, thrusts, and curses that they’d shared and _good lord,_ he was starting to arouse just thinking about it _while in the middle of a goddamn lecture_. Gendry spent the majority of the remaining hour of the class standing behind a podium, sitting down at his desk, or strategically holding his copy of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down to obstruct the view of his crotch, despite the fact that he had managed to remain flaccid throughout the rest of the lecture, not wanting to risk it in case he looked at Arya’s neck again.

 _Jesus Christ, I need help._ Gendry thought as the students filed out of the classroom, he himself stuffing his work bag with his laptop and other supplies before heading out to a small cafe near his apartment, not daring to go back home just yet, not while the wounds were still fresh. He worked on editing a research paper that he was writing for Dr. Jorah Mormont at that little coffee shop, making sure to cite every source on the rigid social class systems of Meereen, Astapor, and Yunkai with detail. He hadn’t even been filling in for Selmy for an entire week at that point, yet it felt like it had been years since he’d actually worked on his own assignments for his graduate school classes. Doing the work that was so brilliantly separate from the subjects being covered in the classes he was teaching was oddly therapeutic for him, bringing in a much needed division between his professional life and the professional life that he had begun to associate with Arya. Gendry kept working and working, not even noticing when the sun went down, only realizing the time he’d spent there when a barista tapped him on the shoulder and told him that it was closing time. He had walked back to his apartment in an exhausted daze, the distraction provided by his work not even allowing him to realize just how fatigued he was due to his lack of sleep the previous night. He barely made it into the shower for a quick wash before he was snoring in his bed, a dreamless sleep overpowering him.

The next morning, Gendry got up and took the bus back to the university, feeling well rested and relatively apathetic as he went through the motions of the day. The weeks following the death of his and Arya’s secret whirlwind of a romance went by in a blur of loneliness, blasted music, and coffee shop work sessions, the days blurring all together in a haze of exhaustion and apathy. Gendry had essentially been promoted to a full time professor as Selmy has emailed him one day about two weeks into his absence informing him that his mother had been transported to a hospice center and he and his siblings would be staying with her until she passed. Selmy has also informed him that it would be at the very least three weeks before he’d return as he would need to stay in his childhood home with his brother and sisters to help plan the funeral and clear out the house.

Gendry had decided to cut off all personal contact with Arya after that, blocking any notifications of her messages to his phone, but it was only a formality. Neither of them had actually dared to reach out to the other via text or call after the split, which shouldn’t really have hurt as badly as it did. For some strange reason, it felt so very cruel and painful to be without her crude jokes and witty commentary, but they both knew that it was for the best.

Gendry hadn’t really paid any attention to the weather in the month after his split from Arya, but when he finally did, it was as if it all had changed from cozy warmth of the late fall to the sharp and biting cold of the winter just to taunt him further. Gendry had barely been able to dig out his winter coats when the snow hit and the calendar read “December 20th”, meaning it was the last Friday before Oldtown University students and staff would be going on winter break. The grad student had assigned the students in the major to write a reflection on the ethnographic text that they had just finished reading that would help them in their final analyses and essays that would be coming after the break, and he’d be spending the better part of his Saturday reading through all of them on the train ride back home to King’s Landing.

Today had been a day better than most, all the students buzzing with excitement for their impending journeys home for Christmas with their family and loved ones, Arya included. Arya and Gendry had even managed to exchange a couple of light-hearted jabs towards each other before the beginning of the lecture, the old air of light professionalism and normalcy starting to slowly make its way back into their limited interactions. The lecture was fairly half-assed, and it included a kahoot quiz on the major events and themes of _The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down_ , along with a fair amount of disorganized and off-topic discussions, but Gendry didn’t really care. The first semester had come to a close, and nobody was going to learn anything new that class anyways. By the time that class was over, the students were quick to start filing out, a few of them dropping off random gift cards and hastily scrawled thank you notes in hallmark cards on his desk before leaving. But Gendry’s attention was entirely on his phone, typing away messages in his siblings group-chat, as his older sister Mya was letting everybody know that she’d be bringing her new fiancé home for Christmas. Their mother had already met Mychel Redfort and given him her personal seal of approval, but Gendry and his younger brother Edric had not had the pleasure (or lack thereof) of doing either.

 **Mya:** _Mychel’s really excited to meet you guys, so *please* do not fuck this up by being weird._

 **Edric:** _I dunno about Gendry, but I can promise not to be weird. I’ve been getting good at not being weird with my clients and employees, which is surprisingly important when you’re a CFO._

 **Gendry:** _Damn Eddie, way to flex._

 **Mya:** _It’s supposed to be Christmas time, Eddie, have some sympathy for us lower middle class assholes by maybe *not* mentioning your fantastic six-figure-salary-job 🙄._

 **Edric:** _For the thousandth time, I go by either Edric or Ned, please stop calling me Eddie._

 **Mya:** _You can’t seriously think that just because you’re some kind of CFO wunderkind now that your older siblings won’t still call you Eddie._

 **Gendry:** _You’ll always be our wittle Teddie-Weddie-Eddie Bear, no matter how big you get._

_Mya Waters changed the conversation name from **Waters Siblings💦** to **Teddie-Weddie-Eddie Bear Defense Squad👊🏻🐻🤪💯😤🍆😳👏🏻🥵**_

**Teddie-Weddie-Eddie Bear:** _This is why our father left us._

Gendry was chuckling in his seat when a knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. He looked up from his phone to see none other than Arya Stark standing in the half open doorway, hair windswept and cheeks red from the cold, as if she’d just been outside, was out there for about five minutes, and then came back in to say something.

“Hey,” He said tentatively, unsure of what was happening. She smiled at him, her grey eyes sparkling as she gently shut the door behind herself and approached his desk, and _fuck_ , nobody should be allowed to look so good so casually.

“Hey!” She replied, attempting an air of nonchalance and pep, but Gendry could see the tenseness that she was trying so desperately to hide. They hadn’t actually spoken one on one since their split a little more than a month earlier, and it was both refreshing and deeply awkward to be speaking alone again.

“What can I do for you?” He asked, hoping that he wasn’t sounding too eager to please, despite knowing damn well that if she told him to strip right then and there to go walk out into the snow naked that he’d do it in a heartbeat. The weirdly sexual nature of that thought alone was starting to freak him out, so he tore himself from his thoughts as she began to open the buckles on her bag.

“I just wanted to say happy holidays. I got you something I thought you might appreciate, but don’t think too much of it. Just thought you might enjoy it.” She said, and Gendry was unsure if the color in her cheeks was from the cold or from the weird tension that was hanging in the room.

“Is it my Mott’s shirt?” He teased, and she grinned as she cast her eyes to the ground as she reached into her bag.

“No, but that probably would’ve been a better idea, wouldn’t it?” Arya joked. She then handed him one of the thickest books he’d ever seen, the title reading _Edgar Allan Poe’s Complete Tales and Poems_. Gendry looked up at her with a polite smile as he stood from his desk.

“Thanks Arya, I really appreciate this.” He said, his blue eyes twinkling with sincerity. She returned the smile, before reaching over to open the book, where several small color coded tabs were poking out from between the pages.

“I marked my favorite stories and poems with different flags depending on the kind of mood that you’re looking get from reading it. I wrote a key on the inside with what the various colors mean so you don’t have to wonder what they mean or anything. We read some short stories by Poe in my Lit Analysis class with Tyrion Lannister earlier this year, and it reminded me of how much I used to love the rest of his stuff. Every work in this book has a deeper meaning if you take the time to look for it, and your being an anthropology fanatic gave you an automatic check for the one prerequisite need for every person who seeks to enjoy the works of Poe.” She mused softly, and Gendry cocked his head with a light smile still on his face.

“And what would that be?” He asked, prodding further. Arya’s face softened before responding, a distant and gentle look in her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak.

“You possess a desire to understand. Throughout all of his works, Poe used the characters that he spoke through to express the things that he couldn’t say out loud. From writing Tamerlane at 18 to Annabel Lee just before his death, he used his poems and short stories as a means to shout into the void in the hopes that someone who bought a copy of his works would read them and shout something back.” Arya spoke quietly, never breaking eye contact as she looked at her TA with a sort of wistful admiration. Ignoring his better judgement, an unfortunate commonality when it came to his interactions with Arya, Gendry stepped away from his desk and took the young woman in his arms, hugging her warmly. She hadn’t hesitated a moment before wrapping her arms around him as well, the two relishing in the feeling of holding each other in their arms again, all the awkwardness and angst and bullshit of the past month washing away as they squeezed their bodies close.

After a moment, they separated, and Gendry stepped back, so as to not allow the temptation to kiss her take over due to their insanely close proximity. He smiled a genuine and grateful smile at her as she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

“Thank you, Arya. This really means a lot to me.” He said, his voice barely above a whisper. She grinned warmly before nodding and turning to leave the classroom.

“Happy holidays, Gendry.” Arya said, giving a small two fingered salute just before slipping out of the door and closing it behind her. Gendry examined the book before him, opening it up to find the key to the color coded flags that she had promised and a handwritten note scrawled onto the back of the hard copy cover.

_Dear G,_

_I hope you enjoy the gift. And make sure to text or call me with your thoughts on various stories and poems. It’s high time you get over yourself and start talking to me again because I miss having a friend that understands._

_Happy holidays,  
A_

Gendry had originally planned on grading his students’ reflections on the train ride home. After all, it was a five hour trip and a lot could get done. Yet the TA found himself unable to tear himself away from the short stories that Arya Stark had marked for him in the completed works of Edgar Allan Poe the whole way back to King’s Landing.

+

After she’d given Gendry his gift, Arya had hurried back to her dorm to do a final sweep, making sure that she wasn’t leaving anything behind before heading outside with Ygritte to load their luggage into Sansa’s SUV to head back North for Christmas. It was a twelve hour drive from Oldtown back to the Stark’s hometown of Winterfell, and they were caravanning with Robb and Talisa, so they needed to be on the road as soon as possible. As soon as the three women had buckled in, they headed out of the university to merge onto the Kingsroad Interstate highway to start their long trek home for the holidays.

The first two hours were spent playing various road trip games, mainly in an attempt by Sansa and Arya to calm Ygritte’s nerves. Their brother’s girlfriend had met their parents before, as well as their youngest brothers, Bran and Rickon, but this would be Ygritte’s first time actually staying with the Starks for the holidays. Things were getting pretty serious between her and Jon, and she was so desperate for his family’s approval, especially that of Catelyn. Arya and Sansa would chuckle to themselves, knowing that their mother, despite her high standards for her children’s partners, already fully approved of Ygritte Snow. The matriarch of the family had mentioned several times to her twin sons how happy and relaxed they both seemed since meeting their respective partners, which was her way of saying that she approved. But Arya always took Ygritte’s nervousness was a good sign, as it showed just how much Jon’s happiness and his family’s acceptance of her meant. After those first two hours, the red headed girlfriend had begun to relax, and the three women were then belting along to the Christmas carols blasting on the radio.

Ygritte had driven the first four hour block, insisting that she needed it to distract from her nerves. At 3:00 pm, they stopped for a late lunch and a bathroom break at a McDonald’s, which also served as an opportunity to chat with Robb and Talisa for a bit. After they finished their meals, it was Arya’s turn to drive. Her four hour shift went by relatively quickly, the tone of the trip starting to die down from one of nervously excited games and belting out Christmas carols to one of relaxation and quiet. At 7:15 pm, Arya pulled into a gas station and after a bathroom break while the tank was filling up, she and Sansa switched places. By 7:20 pm, they were on the road once more. The sun had set and Ygritte had fallen asleep in the backseat while the old-timey Christmas carols from the radio floated through the car in a low hum, providing a calming background noise to the trip.

As Arya was settling into the passenger seat, she pulled out her phone and checked her messages. There were the usual logistical notes from Mum in the family group-chat, the typical memes and jokes in the siblings chat, and the regular holiday messages from various friends from both her hometown and from uni. Arya’s heart began to sink slightly as she noted the absence of texts from Gendry, feeling stupid for putting that note about texting or calling her on the inside of the cover. It wasn’t like anything would, or even could, come of it. She was about to shut off her phone and get some sleep when the device buzzed with a text alert.

 **Gendry:** _Hey I know that you’re driving way up North with your sister and that it’s a long hike from there to Oldtown, but call me when you can because HOLY SHIT I have some feelings about Tamerlane._

 **Gendry:** _And The Pit and the Pendulum._

 **Gendry:** _And Annabel Lee._

 **Gendry:** _And The Masque of the Red Death._

 **Gendry:** _I really just have feelings about every poem and short story that you marked, so I’m pretty sure you’ve created a monster here, Dr. Frankenstein._

 **Gendry:** _Also I know that Frakenstein is Mary Shelley and not Edgar Allan Poe, but I couldn’t think of an adequate Poe reference that would flow smoothly._

Arya’s face erupted into a smile as she typed a response, grinning like a madman as she did.

 **Arya:** _I’m on the road right now, but I will absolutely be calling you when I get home so we can discuss._

 **Gendry:** _My tell tale heart is pounding in anticipation._

 **Arya:** _Lmao, you might wanna tell your tell tale heart to calm itself for a bit because our ETA is 11:04 pm, so it’s gonna be a little while before I can get on the phone._

 **Gendry:** _Oh god, this wait is gonna be worse than when the fisherman in the barrel could do nothing but watch as his brother and their ship slowly descended towards eminent death at the bottom of the whirlpool from A Descent into the Maelstrom._

 **Arya:** _Okay edgelord, calm down with the references._

 **Gendry:** _Nevermore._

“You talking to that guy from anthro again?” Sansa’s voice tore Arya away from her thoughts as she turned to see her sister fighting off a grin as she coasted down the highway.

“How did you know?” The younger asked, astonished at the accuracy of her sister’s guess. Sansa shrugged as she kept her blue eyes on the road.

“Last time I remember you grinning like that was when you were texting someone on our way to the brunch where Robb and Lis first told us that they’re expecting, and I remember you told me that it was just someone you knew from your anthropology class. You’ve been in a weird funk for a while, but now you’re texting someone and you’re grinning like an idiot again, so I correctly assumed that you’re talking to your mystery anthropologist.” Sansa said, her face slightly smug in a teasing sort of way. Arya gave a short chuckle of disbelief as she shook her head.

“You know me too well.” The younger mumbled. The elder sister giggled softly as she nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, maybe I do.” Sansa mused, sounding almost distracted. There was a short and thoughtful pause before the elder spoke up again. “Are you seeing each other?” She asked, and Arya was thankful for the darkness of the night as she was sure that she was blushing furiously.

“No, we’re not seeing each other.” The younger replied shortly, hoping her sister would drop the subject, yet had no such luck.

“Why not?” Sansa asked. Her voice would’ve sounded nonchalant to someone who didn’t know her, but Arya knew her sister better than that. Sansa was really digging now, and with Ygritte sound asleep in the backseat, the younger couldn’t really think of a good reason to deny her sister a deep sibling-chat. They hadn’t had a proper one in months, and maybe it would be therapeutic to get it all out. But then again, if Sansa ever got drunk and accidentally told the wrong person about her and Gendry, then he would be fucked and it would all be her fault. The younger Stark sister then decided to just try and avoid the subject as much as possible to avoid disaster.

“Because we’re just not.” Arya said, her voice almost a snap, hoping that it would drive Sansa away from the topic of her love life. She should’ve known that nothing could drive Sansa away from the topic of her love life.

“That’s a bullshit excuse if I ever heard one.” Sansa quipped, earning a frustrated eye roll from her sister.

“Sans, can you please just drop it?” Arya whined, nearly reduced to begging.

“Oh come on, Arya. This guy clearly makes you happy, you obviously like spending time with him and talking to him, plus he’s in your anthropology class as a major, so I’m going to assume that you guys nerd out together over the shit you talk about in class, it’s the perfect situation!” Sansa said defensively. Arya let out a frustrated groan as she threw her head against the back of the seat.

“It’s absolutely _not_ the perfect situation, trust me.” The younger muttered, wishing that she had just kept her mouth shut as soon as she spoke.

“What, is he like not into women or something?” The elder asked, earning an exasperated sigh from the younger.

“No Sansa, he’s definitely into women, it’s just really fucking complicated situation, alright?” Arya said, her desire to never mention anything about it and her desperation to just tell _anyone_ all about everything engaging in an intense battle within her mind.

“Well why is it complicated? You’re both students at university, so chances are he’s not married or anything drastic like that. Wait, oh my god, he’s not married, is he?” The elder asked, her tone suddenly gravely serious. Arya let out a single joyless laugh before replying.

“No, he’s not married, Sansa! He’s not even in a fucking relationship, it’s just all very complicated and things between us can’t really work because of certain circumstances that exist at the present day and age.” The younger whined as her sister continued to press the issue further.

“Well then what’s stopping you!” Sansa exclaimed, saying it as more of a statement rather than a question.

“Because!”

“Because what?”

“Because we already fucked, Sansa! It was one night in November we both happened to be out at the Peach, we were both really drunk, we ended up going back to his place, and we fucked like _three times_ before passing out and then I couldn’t find my shirt when I woke up so I took one of his and then there was all this drama trying to get our shirts back and then there was a whole fuckload of flirting and we really shouldn’t have kept flirting, but we did, and then he was inviting me over, and then the next thing I know, I’m back at his apartment and we’re fucking again, but we were totally sober and it was hot and passionate and and crazy and wild and feral and gentle and mindblowing and also a little bit illegal because he’s kind of my teacher.” All of the words came pouring out at once, like someone had broken the dam of Arya’s emotions and her poor sister’s SUV was getting flooded. Sansa sat there speechless for a moment, trying to absorb everything that she had just heard while she coasted down the sparsely populated highway.

“You. . . You’re trying to tell me. . . That you. . . had _actual sex_. . . With Dr. Barristan Selmy? More than once??” The elder asked, barely able to wrap her head around the idea of her sister not only being with a man forty five years her senior, but enjoying it enough drunk to give it another go while sober.

__

“Oh my god, no! Sansa, that’s disgusting, I would never! I’m talking about the TA, Gendry Waters!” As soon as Arya clarified with disgust that she had not, in fact, had sex with her actual professor, Sansa breathed a sigh of relief. 

__

“Oh, thank god! I’ve met Gendry before, he is _far_ better than that old raisin who teaches the class normally.” Sansa said, sighing with relief. 

__

“Okay, but Sansa you can’t tell anyone! Truly, not a single soul! He could get kicked out of OU for this, meaning he’d have wasted thousands in an attempt to get a masters degree that he’d be out of the running for as well as out of a job. You have to swear that you won’t tell anyone, not a single soul. Not at Oldtown, not at home, nowhere except _maybe_ in privileged communications with your therapist.” Arya said, her voice a harsh whisper so as to not wake their older brother’s sleeping girlfriend in the backseat. Sansa nodded assuringly, her face softened as she stole a glance towards her sister to let her know that she was serious. 

__

“I promise. No one will find out, not from me.” The elder sister’s voice was calm and solemn as the younger relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief. The rest of the ride went by in relative silence, only breaking when Sansa shrieked to point out the roadside billboard that read _Winter is coming!_ in the cartoon chat bubble from a cartoon direwolf, the text underneath reading **Now entering the city of Winterfell**. Ten minutes later, they were pulling into the driveway at their childhood home, the three women piling out of the car, all of them tired and groggy from the twelve hour drive, but none more so than Talisa, whose pregnancy combined with the long hours that she’d been working at the hospital had knocked her out, forcing her husband to carry her inside wedding style to leave her on the couch while he unloaded their luggage from the car with a deeply peaceful smile on his face. The biting cold of the North normally would have woken them all up and kept them alert, but if anything, it only made them all more tired. 

__

Their long-term live-in house attendant/butler-of-sorts, Hodor, unloaded Sansa, Arya, and Ygritte’s luggage straight away, allowing the sleepy Ygritte, still having her blanket wrapped around her shoulders, to open her arms to her boyfriend who had come outside to greet her and his siblings. After Jon and Ygritte separated, the dark haired Stark son turned his attention to Robb, who gave him a quick up and down glance, fighting the grin off his face. 

__

“You got fat since I last saw you.” Robb teased, poking fun at his brother’s recently newfound devotion to bulking up with muscle as a self described “gym rat”. Jon, in return, gave his twin an up and down glance with furrowed brows and feigned disgust. 

__

“Look who’s talking.” He shot back. After a moment’s hesitation, the twin brothers’ faces erupted into giddy grins as they embraced one another tightly in their definitely-far-from-fat toned and muscled arms. Arya and Sansa rolled their eyes with playful grins before Jon turned his attention to them and gave both his sisters brief but warm hugs in greeting. 

__

“So who still needs to arrive?” Arya asked as Jon led his siblings and girlfriend inside. The dark haired twin did a mental headcount before responding. 

__

“Well, Mum and Dad are here with Bran and Rick, obviously, and you lot made it here alright, so that leaves Edmure and Roslin, Benjen, Cersei, Joff, Myrcie, and Tommen. Uncle Bob arrived ahead of them because he’d already been in the area traveling for work.” Jon said, listing off the many guests they’d be hosting for Christmas as they all walked up towards their childhood bedrooms. 

__

“No Lysa and Robin?” Sansa asked as they walked through the main hall. Jon’s eyes went wide as he grinned knowingly. 

__

“Absolutely not. Last week, Lysa went to Vegas and got married to none other than Petyr fucking Baelish at a 24 hour wedding chapel, so Mum made it clear that Robin would be welcome to join us, but the happy newlyweds would not.” Robb gave a low whistle at their brother’s relaying of their aunt’s new drama, and Sansa shifted her shoulders slightly at the mention of the name _Petyr Baelish._ He was the very man who had set her up on a date with Ramsay Bolton two years prior, who had gone on to sexually assault her before getting arrested for some crazy Ted Bundy-esque shit that he’d done to a poor girl named Jeyne Poole, so naturally, the red haired Stark sister was uncomfortable at discovering that her aunt had married the man who, inadvertently, but had nonetheless, gotten her involved with the man of her nightmares. 

__

The conversation lulled after that, the siblings and Ygritte quiet as they made their way to the main stairwell that would lead to their childhood bedrooms. Suddenly, as they stepped off of the staircase and onto the second floor, the second youngest Stark sibling, Bran, ran straight into Arya, earning a yelp of surprise from the dark haired Stark sister before she got her bearings and threw her arms around him. Bran smiled as he hugged her back before turning to hug Sansa, Robb, and Ygritte as well. 

__

“Welcome home guys! It’s been way too long since you Oldtown lot have been back for a visit, and hanging out with Rickon all the time gets old fast.” Bran mused as they all began to make their way towards the bedrooms. 

__

“I’m sure it does.” Sansa teased, rolling her eyes playfully as they approached the youngest member of the pack sitting on the couch playing some sort of violent video game in the second door sitting room. As the siblings all began to greet Rickon and settle into the sitting room for what would likely be a late night of catching up, Arya remembered that she was supposed to call Gendry to discuss the various works of Poe, and likely wouldn’t be able to slip out once she had sat down without drawing attention to herself as she was always known to be a night owl. So as everyone sat down and got comfortable, Arya hung back and yawned, feigning exhaustion. 

__

“Hey guys, I think I’m gonna make like Lis and clock out early. I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast, though!” Jon, Ygritte, and Rickon booed jokingly as she rolled her eyes, but they all gave her quick goodnights before turning their attention back to the tv screen where Robb was switching the game over to Mario Kart while Bran distributed the wii remotes. Sansa gave her a brief but knowing smirk that seemed to say _get it, girl._

__

Once everyone was fully distracted, Arya rounded the corner of the hallway and slipped into her childhood bedroom. As soon as she had shut the door behind her, she was pulling out her phone and calling Gendry’s number. He picked up on the second ring. 

__

“Holy mother of god, Arya, how did I go twenty three years without the brilliant works of Edgar Allan Poe?” Right out the gate, Gendry got straight to the topic at hand, his voice full of that newfound enthusiasm and excitement that she had missed so much over the past month, and Arya couldn’t help but to bite her lower lip as she grinned like an idiot. 

__

“Oh, I’m sure that you’ve come across his works before. Did you never have to read _The Raven_ or _The Cask of Amontillado_ for English or something in high school?” She asked, cocking her head to the side as she started to walk aimlessly around her room. 

__

“Oh, sure, but that absolutely doesn’t count. When you’re a fifteen year old dipshit, the most important part of every English assignment is having an unjustified hatred of whatever content you’re reading out of pure teenaged angst and spite!” Gendry joked, feigning defensiveness as she giggled, making a mental note to shame herself later for giggling like a schoolgirl while on the phone with Gendry. 

__

“Well, you got me there. So what work do you wanna start with?” Arya asked as she absentmindedly traced a finger along the edges of her old fencing trophies that stood along the top of her dresser, gathering dust. 

__

“I think we should go in order of where in the book they’re marked, so that would put Tamerlane up first.” He said, the undergrad able to hear the flipping of the pages as he turned to the story. She then turned on her heel before running over to the other side of the room where her bookcase took up half of a wall, scanning the spines of all the various novels and quickly found her own copy of Poe’s completed works, pressing her phone between her cheek and her shoulder as she grabbed it and rushed to turn to the epic poem before going to sit down on her bed. 

__

“I fucking love Tamerlane. I could go on about the significance of this poem for hours, but I wanna hear your thoughts first, so you better start talking before I open the Pandora’s jar of obscure Poe knowledge.” She said, her tone one of jest despite the statement being _very_ real. Gendry inhaled deeply on the other end, as if he were preparing to launch into a long winded rant, which Arya very much hoped that he would. 

__

“Okay, so before reading this one, I followed the advice in the little note you wrote on the page marker, and did some quick research on the context of Poe’s life when this poem was first published, and _holy shit_ , I’m so glad that I did. Considering the fact that Poe was eighteen when he anonymously published Tamlerlane and Other Poems, we know for a fact that these works were written while he and his foster father, John Allan, were feuding over the money and debts that Edgar owed him. On the one hand, we know that debt is a bad thing and you should never ask someone for money if you don’t have the means or intention to pay it back within the agreed upon parameters of time, so that objectively puts Edgar in the wrong, but on the other hand, we know that a great deal of his debts came from the expenses and dues from studying at the University of Virginia, a school that John Allan pressured him into attending, before he dropped out. With this in mind, the work takes on a whole new meaning. We know that this work wasn’t written by some random poet who found inspiration in the idea of the fourteenth century Turkish conqueror, Timur, and fantasized a long winded soliloquy of regret on his deathbed, but rather we _know_ that Edgar was using one of the most powerful, rich, and glorious eastern conquerors in history to try and convey the message to John Allan that material wealth, no matter how much of it you have, is ultimately worthless, and the joy it brings is fleeting. After reading a few more of the poems you marked and looking into the context of his life at the time of their creation, I began to realize that Poe uses the narrators in almost all of his poems as a mouthpiece to express the things that he’s feeling, as he had no other medium with which to do so. Tamerlane, or if we’re being historically accurate and not using the Latinized version of his name, Timur, makes several jabs and taunts at the priest’s expense about his age and apparent foolishness _while he’s taking his final deathbed confession_ , which, knowing the context of the poem’s purpose, is quite hilarious, as it was really just Poe taunting an unwitting John Allan. In the very first stanza, Tamerlane says _‘I would not call thee fool old man, but such is not a gift of thine’_ , essentially calling the priest taking his last confession an old dumbass, which gives me the sense that Edgar not only saw himself as Tamerlane, but saw the priest as John Allan. And I could list every example of this in the entire epic, but that would get redundant, so I’m gonna move onto the purpose behind this poem. The eloquence and beauty of the wording alone is breathtaking, but what really struck me was the emotion behind it all. Poe first published Tamerlane and Other Poems under the anonymous pseudonym of _A Bostonian_ , knowing damn well that it was, up to that point, his best work, and he would have easily made his name known in the world of publishers and literature by crediting himself, but he didn’t. The poem itself taken solely at face value is just a fictionalized account of an esteemed conqueror on his deathbed, lamenting the decisions he made in his life to value power and riches over love and youth, regretting in his final hours the choice that he made to leave his first love in pursuit of gold and glory in the form of epic poetry. But when you look at the author behind it, you see a young man pleading with his father to simply understand that he never wanted to be the scholar or businessman that he was expected to become, that in his heart, he would always just be a poet with a vagabond’s soul. Poe published it _anonymously,_ throwing away the immediate chance at furthering his career as an author just in the hopes that his father would see it and maybe change his outlook on money and material wealth.” Gendry paused, seemingly to catch his breath, and Arya sat there with a stunned almost-smile on her face. 

__

“Did I talk too much?” He asked, breaking her away from her thoughts as she came back down to the conversation. 

__

“No! God no, not at all, you talked the perfect amount. I’m just utterly stunned right now because in the span of twelve hours, you managed to properly formulate and articulate the thoughts and feelings on Tamerlane that I’ve been spending the past five years trying to put into words.” Arya said, her voice a disbelieving whisper as she absentmindedly stroked the wrinkled pages of _Tamerlane_ in her own copy of the completed works of Poe. 

__

“Now you know how I feel when you started spouting all that fucking knowledge about the first couple chapters of The Spirit Catches You back in November.” Gendry said with a small laugh. Arya’s lips pulled up into a smile, feeling her cheeks flush and her heart flutter as she laid back onto her pile of pillows, switching the phone from her right ear to her left. 

__

“I’m glad that you asked me to call you.” Arya said, regretting the words as soon as they escaped her lips. 

__

“Is that so?” He mused teasingly on the other end, the sound of his voice having way too strong of an effect on her. 

__

"I’ve just missed being able to talk to someone who shares my weird desire to understand every piece of art, media, and literature I come across.” She said quickly, trying to keep a safe distance from serious and romantic shit by attempting to create an air of platonic emotion, hoping that she wasn’t failing as miserably as she knew she was. 

__

“It’s not weird, Arya. Weird implies something unusual that exists uncomfortably and dangerously within the normalcy of everyday life. Your constant seeking to understand the world and the people who inhabit it is not uncomfortable nor is it dangerous. It’s fucking brilliant, Arya. _You_ are fucking brilliant.” Gendry’s words were sincere and heartfelt, a little too much so for Arya’s attempts at platonic conversation, but she was having a hard time thinking about the downsides when he was calling her _fucking brilliant_. 

__

“Well don’t go and get too sappy on me, Waters, we’ve only discussed one poem and this sincerity for every one of our conversations about Poe’s various works really isn’t going to be sustainable.” She said, shifting the conversation back to the teasing flirtation that felt safe and comfortable compared to the deep and sincerely emotional conversation whose feelings pushed the boundaries of any semblance of professionalism. Gendry chuckled softly as she heard him shut the cover of his book. 

__

“I can only be so emotionless after spending hours pouring over the works of Poe, Arya.” He teased, forcing a smile to form on her face again. She rolled her eyes as she rolled over onto her belly. 

__

“Oh, fuck off.” She mused, giggling softly as she did. There was a lull in the conversation before Gendry spoke up.

__

“It’s getting pretty late,” He said, and Arya looked at the time, noting how the hands on her old vintage wall clock were inching dangerously close to 1:00. 

__

“Yeah, it is.” There was another brief pause before the Stark girl spoke again. “ Well, I’ll let you go for the night, but I definitely expect you to call me at some point tomorrow so I can one up you with my almost concerningly vast knowledge of Edgar Allan Poe and his works.” She said, grinning as she heard Gendry laugh on the other line. 

__

“Well, in that case, I’ll have to brush up on the history of nineteenth century emo poets. Can’t have an undergrad outdo me in the department of weirdly specific history facts.” He jabbed, causing Arya to roll her eyes and bite the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning too hard.

__

“You’re setting yourself up for failure, G. I’ve been hip to Poe being emo on main since I was thirteen years old and living on edgy literature.” Arya retorted, grinning smugly as Gendry laughed. 

__

“Ah, but Poe was so much more than just an edgelord being emo on main.” He rebutted teasingly as Arya grinned wickedly. 

“Congratulations, you’re literally the last person to know.” She taunted, chuckling softly as he laughed. 

“I’ll catch you tomorrow. Goodnight, A.” He said finally, yawning as he did. 

“Goodnight, G.” Arya said softly, her voice low and tired as she spoke before hanging up and settling under her blankets and covers into a deep and dreamless sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hurray, the angst was short lived (it will return)! Also for those of you who were confused about the timeline, the fic starts in ambiguously early November, and now where we are is December 20th, so it's right around the holidays. Also, as you may have guessed/noticed, Robert Baratheon is family friends with the Starks and is also the estranged father of Gendry and his siblings, so that will cause some fuckshit;) So naturally, in this fic, Robert Baratheon + Cersei Lannister will make an appearance. And in this fic, they (and also Joffrey) are going to be _entirely_ OOC. They're going to have been in AA successfully for 21 years (that's how they met in this fic), so they're gonna be a lot more mellow and also happily married. Also Joffrey is gonna be a normal and nice guy who was just a dick in high school. Just thought you guys should get a fair warning(?) ahead of time! Also Robert will be referred to as "Bob" a lot, so be cognisant of that. OH and Jaime and Cersei were never a thing here, so Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen are all actually Robert's kids.  
> So I'm hoping to have chapter 6 up by the 20th, so in one week, but also that may not happen because I'm graduating on the 20th, but I'm hoping to have it up sooner rather than later. As always, thank you so so much for reading and commenting! Your guys' feedback is what fuels me!! I love you!!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gendry, Mya, and Edric have good old fashioned sibling fun, Ella talks with her son, and Arya has a chat with good old Uncle Bob.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I’m so so so sorry that this is up so late. This whole day has been crazy with some cousins of mine in town and I thought I’d have a lot more time to be able to edit this chapter than I actually had, BUT here she is! I also leave for Switzerland in three days (I live in the Washington DC area for context) and from there, I’ll be driving down to Spain with my host family, so I doubt I’ll have a ton of time to write and post, but I’ll have chapter seven up on or before July 6th at the very latest. I will be working as an au pair full time while in Spain, so I won’t have nearly as much free time, but I will keep writing whenever I can! Thank you SO much for your patience, I know I haven’t been very reliable with the timing of this chapter. But I hope you enjoy this one!!!

As soon as Gendry turned off his phone after getting off the call with Arya, he got up from his childhood bed to go to the tiny bathroom that he had shared with his siblings and mother when growing up to brush his teeth. When he stepped out of the bedroom that he was sharing with his brother, however, he ran straight into his sister, Mya.

“Hey watch it, Ferdinand.” She said, her voice conveying mild annoyance. Gendry furrowed his brows in confusion.

“Ferdinand?” He questioned, unsure of what she was trying to reference.

“Like the bull.” She clarified. Gendry nodded in slightly embarrassed understanding.

“I’m never gonna shake that nickname, am I?” He asked with a sigh, upset that the nickname his high school buddies had given him still stuck.

“Nope.” Mya mused, a sadistically sisterly smile spreading across her face as she pushed past Gendry to get into the bathroom, her two brothers following her in as the middle child rolled his eyes. As the three siblings squeezed together in the tiny bathroom, they began to ready their toothbrushes in unison, just as they had done growing up.

“You can’t complain about being called the Bull, Gend, not when I’m stuck with Teddie-Weddie-Eddie-Bear.” Edric grumbled as he passed the toothpaste to his brother who dispensed it onto the brush before passing it off to Mya, who did the same before capping the tube. Once she had sealed the toothpaste shut, the three siblings all wet their brushes and started brushing their teeth, all of them smiling as they did so, remembering fondly how their mother had trained them to all to go through the motions of a bedtime routine in unison and how often they had stood in that very bathroom together doing that exact task. Once Gendry had tapped out sixty beats on the edge of the counter, Eddie leaned over to spit, then Gendry, then Mya, just as they had always done as children. Once Mya had spit, the three siblings all burst into laughter as they wiped away the excess toothpaste on their mouths.

“Oh my god, how long has it been since we all brushed together?” The eldest asked as they began to file out of the cramped bathroom.

“Oh lord, at least since I first left for OU as an undergrad.” Gendry said, amazed at how easily they had slipped back into that old childhood tradition.

“Well, you know what they say; you’re never too old to synchronize nightly teeth brushing with your siblings.” Eddie joked, earning a laugh from his brother and sister. The three siblings made their way to the living room before settling down on the large and soft couch, Mya and Gendry going to the right and left ends of the couch, spreading out their legs with smiles on their faces while Edric struggled for a bit of space in the middle, just as they had always done as children. The elder two siblings laughed as Eddie wrestled the remote from Mya’s hand, flipping through the channels on their old television before settling on the National Geographic Animals of the Desert special. The eldest of the siblings gasped as her hand flew to her heart, her face showing her feelings of sentimentality as the narrator calmly talked them, the viewers, through the process of the wildebeests’ grazing rituals.

“Oh my god! Eddie, Gend, do you remember when we were kids and Mum couldn’t afford all the fun cable channels, so we’d go the nature channel and mute the National Geographic animal features so we could make the most _disgusting_ comments about what was happening on screen?” Mya’s blue eyes were almost watering with some sort of strange mix of sentimentality and amusement as her brothers laughed in agreement, howling as they recalled the fading memories of their childhood.

“God, those were the days. I look back on stuff like that, and I remember all the little tricks to deal with being poor that Mum would teach us that we just thought were fun little games at the time. I don’t think I ever realized just how little money she was making back then. She just never let us see how hard she struggled until she was sure we were all mature enough to handle it.” Eddie said, trailing off near the end as if he were getting lost in thought.

“I remember I used to get so excited when Robert would come for birthdays because he always got us the most expensive gifts that would’ve cost Mum a month’s worth of overtime at the drop of a hat. You’d think he would’ve been able to spare some change for child support every month with all the money he spent on those presents.” Gendry said bitterly, the memories of how he and his siblings had idolized their father growing up tarnished by the guilt and regret over how little they had appreciated their mother’s everyday sacrifices as children.

“Robert actually did send child support checks. He sent them to Mum every month, and every time she got the next one in the mail, she’d deposit it right into our university funds.” Mya said quietly. Gendry furrowed his brows as he and Eddie turned their heads to face their sister.

“Who told you that?” The youngest sibling asked. Mya sighed as if she were weighing her options while the posh and calming voice of the narrator filled the room.

“Robert told me. And then Mum confirmed it.” She said quietly, her brothers shifting in their seats to sit up straight.

“When did you talk to Robert?” Gendry asked, the question more of a demand than a request. Mya sighed heavily as she avoided eye contact with both of her brothers, the silence between them deafening.

“A few weeks ago.” She whispered finally. Gendry and Eddie let the knowledge wash over them, letting it sink in before the middle sibling broke the silence.

“Why were you talking?” He pressed, his voice attempting to conceal the agitation and anger bubbling in his gut. There was a heavy silence before Mya sighed in defeat.

“I invited him to the wedding.” She admitted, confusion and agitation taking control of Gendry’s better judgement, but before he could say anything he would later regret, Edric beat him to it.

“And does Mum know that you invited the man who ruined her life and left her at 23 year old with no university degree, to raise three children on her own? Did you even ask? Will he be bringing his wife as a plus one? Or maybe he’ll bring one of the kids from his new family, ‘cause god knows he always cared about them more than us!” Eddie was shouting by the end of it, causing Mya to stand up, rolling her blue eyes as she tried to hide her hurt with annoyance.

“Yes, Eddie, Mum knows that I invited Robert. And he won’t be bringing his wife because Cersei felt uncomfortable with the fact that they’d gotten together shortly after he left us. He won’t be in the wedding party, he won’t be in the professional photos, and he won’t walk me down the aisle, but _fuck_ boys, I’m tired of being angry at him! And if you’re just going to continue to be bitter cunts about the whole thing, then we just won’t discuss it any further, but I’m just _so done_ with only having the distant memory of a part-time father. I wanna make things right, and so does he, so I invited him to the wedding, and he sent his RSVP in the mail the next fucking day. I’m getting married two weeks from today, and I don’t intend to inherit our mother’s shit luck when it comes to the relationships with her children’s father, and to ensure that never happens, I intend to rebuild a relationship with our father and bury the hatchet along with all the pent up animosity that’s been collecting in my heart over the years.” Mya stropped, pausing to take a breath as her brothers let her words wash over them. Gendry thought for a moment, mulling over her words before nodding.

“I’m sorry we flipped out, My. It’s your wedding, and I’m glad that you want to make things right with Robert. As long as we don’t have to interact with him beyond the typical pleasantries that we would with any other guest, I think we’ll be good.” Gendry offered, nudging Eddie sharply with his elbow, prompting their youngest sibling to nod in agreement. After a moment, Mya visibly softened, offering her younger brothers a gentle smile before leaning over in an attempt to hug them. The three siblings tangled themselves in a knot of giggles and limbs reaching out to hug each other, the low voice of the narrator on the national geographic channel humming through the room.

About twenty minutes later, Mya got a text from her fiancé, Mychel, informing her that his plane had landed. She then stood up, stretching her long limbs before going to grab a jacket from the hall closet, pausing at the front door to turn back and face her brothers.

“Eddie, come on, you’re the only dumbass local in this neighborhood to have your own car. If we don’t drive it, someone’ll jack it.” She said, earning a groan from Edric as he stood, grabbing his keys from the hook before the two of them headed out the door. Gendry then turned off the television, sitting on the couch for a moment before standing and heading into the tiny kitchenette looking through the bowls of fruits and vegetables for some avocados. After finding one fully ripened, he opened the cabinet and took out a couple slices of bread, popping them into the toaster before turning his attention back to the avocado, cutting it in half before scooping out the meat into a small bowl before taking a tomato, cutting it into thin slices as the bread popped out of the toaster. He then spread the avocado onto the bread, topping it with the tomato slices, and finishing it off with some salt and pepper before biting into his way-past-midnight snack.

“Of course you’d skip over the crisps and pre-packaged snacks to make some avocado toast.” A warm female voice said. Gendry spun around to see his mother, Ella Waters, standing in the small doorway to the apartment, her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and a warm smile on her face. She was wearing a blue shirt that said **Proud Eyrie College Parent** , the school that Mya had graduated from with a degree in investigative journalism, the very degree that she had been pursuing when she had to drop out due to having fallen pregnant. A grin spread over his face as he approached his smiling mother with open arms, wrapping her in a warm embrace. Ella squeezed her son close to her, breathing him in. When they separated, she looked him up and down, holding onto his shoulders at an arm's length.

“You look well, Gend. Oldtown still treating you well?” She asked, a genuineness to her questioning that Gendry had missed so very much over the past months.

“Relatively well, yeah. How’s the pub? Did it ever work out with that one waitress and her hours?” He asked, reciprocating the almost concerned questioning as a means to show affection. Ella smiled as she nodded her head.

“Yes, she’s been working irregular shifts, but when she’s called, she always shows up.” The forty five year old said, earning a nod from her son. “Where are your siblings? They both texted me earlier when they got in, I was hoping to see them when I got home.” She muttered, giving halfhearted glances around the apartment to see if she’d missed them somehow.

“They’re getting Mychel from the airport.” Gendry answered, his mother nodding before squinting her eyes at her son, scrutinizing him.

“There’s something weighing on your mind.” Ella said. It wasn’t a question so much as a confrontation of sorts. Gendry sighed, like a weight were being lifted off of his shoulders as his mother nodded. She jerked her head towards the living room, and he followed her there where she sat down on the couch. He then laid down next to her, resting his head in her lap while she combed through his black hair.

“Alright love, out with it.” She said, prompting a long exhale from her son before he began.

“There’s this woman at OU. She’s incredibly intelligent, she’s absolutely hilarious, she’s quick witted, so fucking passionate about everything she does, and not to mention, she’s just drop dead gorgeous. She’s so easy to talk to, she makes me laugh, she’s absolutely fantastic in bed, she’s everything I could ever want in a woman.” Gendry was almost rambling, speaking to his mother as if he were simply thinking out loud.

“But?” Ella asked, sensing a sort of impending trouble.

“But she’s an undergrad student in her first year who is majoring in the social and cultural anthropology class that I TA in.” He admitted, the hesitation only slight, perhaps due to the fact that it was two in the morning and he was far too tired to properly function, perhaps because he just needed _someone_ to know. Ella nodded slowly in understanding as her fingers drew circles on her son’s scalp.

“Gendry, when I was your age, I had two children with a third on the way. I had dropped out of school and picked up a second job when I found out that I was pregnant with Mya. I always told myself that I’d go back someday and get my degree, but I never did. Now I don’t regret you or your siblings, not for a minute. You’re one of the only good things about this life. But I always wished that I’d waited until I found the right person before having you. When I got pregnant with Mya, I thought that I could do it all on my own. Robert had been sent overseas to the front lines when I was only four months along, so I had to get used to the idea of raising her alone and I had to do it quick. And for the first few months after she was born, it looked like that would be my life. But then Bob came back and I fell all over again. Shortly after finding out that I was expecting you, he was sent away again. He managed to get back in time for your birth, and we played house for a while, the four of us, but the moment I told him that I was expecting our third child, he finally admitted that he wasn’t ready to be a father, and off he went, leaving me alone with the three of you. You’re still young, Gendry. You don’t have any kids, you don’t have any outstanding debts, and you have a brilliant mind that’s only been flourishing at Oldtown. You don’t need to rush into anything with this girl. If she’s really as good as you say she is, then she’ll still be there after you graduate. Let her know that you’ll be waiting, and if she’s right for you, she’ll wait it out too.” Ella said the words softly, as if it were a spoken word lullaby. Gendry smiled lightly as he nodded his head.

“Thanks Mum.” He paused as he remembered what Mya had said earlier about their father having been invited to the wedding. “Are you really alright with him being at the wedding?” He asked, brows furrowed. In the handful of memories that he had of his father visiting for birthdays and occasional weekends, there had always been a tension between his parents, his mother tight lipped and faking happy while his father seemed almost pained in his smiles, as if he were uncomfortable being there with them. He’d seen pictures of his father’s other three kids, Gendry’s half siblings. He could never remember their names properly. Jeffrey, Marcella, and Thomas, maybe? Something like that. Gendry was interrupted from his thoughts when his mother sighed.

“I’ll be alright. He agreed not to bring Cersei or any of his kids, so I think everything will be fine. I think he might bring his old friend, Ned, or one of Ned’s children, if they’re still close. But I’ll be fine. He won’t be in the wedding party, he won’t be in any official photographs, he won’t even be near the wedding table at the reception dinner.” Ella said, her fingers still idly combing themselves through her son’s black hair.

Several minutes later, Mya and Edric arrived back with Mychel, and the brief moment alone that the mother and son had shared was gone, yet her words of wisdom lingered in Gendry’s mind as he went down to rest that night.

+

After getting off the phone with Gendry, Arya tiptoed outside to the upper terrace, avoiding her siblings, cousins, in-laws, and parents as they laughed and joked the night away in the second floor living room. As soon as she had shut the glass door behind her, Arya exhaled deeply, breathing in the cold night air as she leaned against the railing, eyes closed as she drank in the winter chill.

“Can’t sleep?” Arya jumped as she heard a deep voice coming from the other side of the terrace, only calming when she saw to whom the voice belonged.

“Hey Uncle Bob.” She sighed, moving to sit down next to her father’s closest and oldest friend, Robert Baratheon. As soon as she’d plopped down in her seat, she noticed the card in Bob’s hands. “What’s that?” Arya asked, nodding towards it.

“An invitation to my daughter’s wedding.” Bob said, giving an almost pained smile. Arya furrowed her brows.

“What the fuck? Myrcella’s just barely eighteen, she and Trystane can’t be getting married. And why did you get a formal invite?” She asked, causing Bob to chuckle as he shook his head.

“I meant my other daughter, Mya.” He said, a wistful glimmer in his blue eyes. Arya furrowed her brows again, cocking her head in confusion.

“You have another daughter? Since when?” She asked, clearly confused.

“I have six children in total. There’s Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen, as you know. Then there are my first three. My ex girlfriend, Ella, had them when I was still in active duty. Mya’s my oldest, she’s twenty five. Then there are her two younger brothers, both eighteen months apart from one another.” He explained. Arya could barely imagine her dear family friend with anyone but Cersei, who he’d been married to for 21 years now.

“Jesus Christ, get around much, party animal?” She joked in an attempt to cover up her shock. Bob was now looking at her with furrowed brows, a confused yet tender expression on his face.

“Your Aunt Lyanna used to call me that all the time. You look like her, you know. Same face, same eyes, same hair. Did I ever tell you about her?” He asked. Arya shook her head tentatively. She’d known about her Aunt Lyanna, despite the fact that her father rarely talked about it. She’d run off with some rich and newly divorced guy named Rhaegar Targaryen and six months after their wedding, their tiny plane had an incredibly rough landing, killing Rhaegar instantly while Lyanna had been impaled on the broken arm of a chair. Her father had been the one who dragged her from the plane and who held her as she died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Arya could gather as much that Lyanna and Bob had known each other given how close they both were to Ned, but she didn’t know they’d ever had a relationship beyond greetings and pleasantries.

“She and I dated for about three months after she graduated high school. I was so infatuated with her, and when my grandfather died, I inherited his estate and a third of his money, meaning that I was financially set for life. In my euphoric state of bliss, I proposed to Lya. I remember kneeling there with her, out in the godswood right near your house, and she just looked terrified. She was frozen in fear, and she just said _Robert, how could you?_ before she ran off. Two weeks later, she ran off with Rhaegar Targaryen. I was heartbroken when she left, but I didn’t want to admit it. So I drank myself into a stupor every night trying not to feel anything about it. I moved to King’s Landing when I heard about the accident. I couldn’t even bring myself to go to her funeral. I just avoided the whole memory of her entirely. It was too painful otherwise. I used to go to this pub, Littlefinger’s, and that’s where I met Ella. We got on very well, and we started seeing each other. We’d been together about five months when she told me that she was pregnant. That was terrifying to me. A baby was something so utterly real that I couldn’t avoid responsibility as long as I stayed. So I put in a request to be sent off to the front lines. I never told her that I’d requested it, and to this day, I could never admit it to her that I intentionally ran away. Over in Lorath, I saw things that no one should ever have to see. I watched friends bleed and die, I watched children clutching the bodies of their dead mothers, unable to understand why they weren’t moving. It was terrible. So when I came back, the joy of a baby was just what I needed. Ella had dropped out of Vhagar College so she could support Mya full time, and my coming home was a welcome surprise for her. We got back together, and several months after that she fell pregnant again. When I wasn’t at home with our child, I was out drinking, and the idea that another child could be added to the mix, taking away time from my drinking, was utterly terrifying, as sobriety forced me to feel. So I requested to be sent out again. I made it back in time for the birth of our second, but nine months later, when she told me that she was expecting our third, I finally broke down. I told her that I wasn’t ready to be a father, that I couldn’t handle it. She was twenty three years old at that point, she worked two jobs, she lived in a tiny apartment in the projects of King’s Landing, so she was in absolutely no position to raise three children on her own. But she did it anyways. After leaving her, I came back North. I was drinking all the time, and people began to notice. It was only when your parents staged an intervention for me that I checked myself into a rehabilitation center to get sober. After leaving that place, I started going to AA meetings regularly. And that’s when I met Cersei. She and I supported one another. We forced each other to face our feelings. I started going to therapy and I faced all the fears that I had never talked about with Lyanna’s leaving, her sudden death, the war, all of it. I tried to be there for my first three for a while. I always sent checks, I visited for birthdays. But after having Joff, it got harder and harder to go back to King’s Landing and face my first family. The children were all of my mistakes personified, how the fuck was I supposed to maintain my progress and sobriety when I was seeing my own face staring back at me asking about my _new family?_ So after Mya’s fifteenth birthday, I stopped coming back. And just the other day, she called me. We talked for a very long time, we caught up with one another. And now she’s invited me and one guest to her wedding.” Bob said, sighing as he finished. Arya nodded slowly, taking it all in.

“So you’ll be going with Cersei?” She asked after a thoughtful pause. Bob shook his head.

“We talked about it, and because she and I got married only a year after my youngest from the first batch was born, we decided that it would be best for her not to come. I might just not go in the end. It’s two weeks out, and I can’t very well go alone, I’d die.” Robert forced a joyless chuckle after that last bit, prompting Arya to stand up, looking down on him with a determined smile.

“You’re not going alone. It’s about time you face your fears, Bob, so if you really need some emotional support, I’ll go with you as your plus one.” She said, asserting herself. Robert looked up at her with a sort of amused wonder.

“You truly do have Lya’s spirit, you know that?” He said, and Arya laughed.

“Send me all the details. But in two week’s time, you and I will go to attend your daughter’s wedding.” He smiled at her gratefully before Arya yawned. “I’m gonna head in for the night, but I’m glad we had this talk. I’ll see you tomorrow, Uncle Bob.” He nodded at her before she opened the glass door and trotted back to her bed, not the slightest hint of an idea of what going to that wedding would be doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! So next chapter will be the wedding, and some stuff will go down. This was really a chapter that provides context for everyone’s dynamics and relationships that’ll come into play a lot in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for reading and thank you _so_ much for your patience! I love and appreciate all of you for being so understanding with my crazy hectic schedule. Thank you!!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the wedding happens, the reception happens, and a wee bit of drama goes down:)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! I updated!!! Crazy, right? Only 18 hours late! Currently I am in Spain with my au pair host family, and I am gonna go to Girona at some point soon, which is where Cersei’s walk of shame and all the outdoors Braavos scenes were filmed!!! So catch me cosplaying blind Arya and captioning the pic “Spare coochie ma’am? Spare coochie?” Enjoy!

Christmas day had come and gone quickly. There had been no greatly horrid incidents, and every night while still at home, Arya spoke on the phone with Gendry, the two of them analyzing a different work of Edgar Allan Poe every time. Uncle Bob had texted her a link with the wedding invitation the day after she’d offered to be his plus one, and today was the day that they were flying into the Vale for the big event. Throughout the flight, Robert had been acting as though everything was fine. He told Arya all the stories from when he was a wild young man, before he’d gotten sober, often joking that the wild stories were the only good part of being an alcoholic. But Arya knew him well enough to know that it was a front. She noticed the bouncing of his leg throughout the flight, the restless tapping of his fingers, and the fear in his blue eyes that seemed to say _What if I’m too late to ever be her father again?_ Something in those blue eyes reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t quite place who.

As soon as the plane touched down in Eyrie Airport, Robert called Cersei, letting her know that they had landed safely, but Arya knew that the call was a way for him to let his wife know that he missed her. They’d always been incredibly supportive of one another, always communicating everything, always looking out for the other’s emotional wellbeing. When Bob finally hung up the phone, Arya had hailed down a taxi and was loading their luggage into the trunk.

“Everything alright?” She asked, eyeing him with a curiosity. Bob nodded nonchalantly as he closed the trunk and circled around to sit in the backseat.

“Everything’s fine.” He responded, punching the address of the hotel into the little monitor behind the passenger seat’s headrest. Arya raised her brows almost skeptically as she buckled herself in, not buying the cool and casual attitude that her uncle was trying to maintain.

“So you’re not nervous about meeting Mya and her brothers at the hotel lobby? You’re not even nervous about seeing Ella again for the first time in ten years?” Arya said, pressing him for a bit of vulnerability just to prove he’s really being himself. Robert sighed heavily as he visibly let his guard down, his shoulders suddenly seeming as if they were carrying the weight of the world.

“Of course I’m nervous. Normally I’d have Cersei here to talk about it, or I’d message my psychologist or my old sponsor, but clearly those options are not available to me at the moment.” He admitted, fiddling with one of the buttons on his clean grey dress shirt. Arya reached out her hand and placed it over Robert’s, squeezing it gently as she offered a friendly smile.

“You’re not alone right now. I won’t be able to defend your decision to leave then and to stay away because quite honestly, I firmly believe that it was not the right choice. But we can’t do anything to change the past, and your making an effort to mend your relationships with your first three children is very honorable, and I will defend what you are doing now with all that I have. I’m here as your plus one for a reason. I believe in you Uncle Bob, and I want you to know that I’ll be here to have your back for this whole wedding weekend.” When she finished speaking, Robert squeezed her hand back, smiling gratefully as he did.

“Thank you, Arya. I appreciate that more than you know.” Robert said, a certain warmth and sentiment behind his eyes. Arya gave one last squeeze before letting go and pulling her hand back into her own lap. The rest of the drive went by quickly in a thoughtful silence until the taxi driver pulled up in front of a large and historical looking hotel that had a hand painted sign reading **The Moon Brothers Inn**. After getting their luggage out of the trunk and had paying the cabbie, Robert stopped, an unreadable expression on his face as he faced the inn. Arya walked up to him, nudging her honorary uncle’s arm, seemingly breaking him from a trance. He turned his head to face her as she nodded towards the entrance.

“Let’s go, party animal.” She joked, earning a small yet genuine smile from Robert.

When they got into the inn, they found that most of the people swarming the lobby were also wedding guests, everyone buzzing about with excitement over the marriage of Mychel and Mya.

“I’m going to check us in. We have separate rooms, by the way, but they’re on the same floor.” Arya nodded before Robert began to make his way to the front desk to check in. The brown haired Stark was scrolling through her instagram feed when suddenly she heard a voice she absolutely did not expect to hear calling her name.

“Arya?” The young woman looked up in shock and surprise to see none other than Gendry Waters walking towards her, the same expression of amused surprise on his face as she was sure was on hers.

“Wow, hey!” She said, unable to manage anything else as he stopped in front of her, giving a single chuckle of amusement as she looked him up and down.

“What are you doing here?” Gendry asked, still grinning lightly.

“I’m, um, I’m here for the uh. . .” Arya snapped her fingers, trying to remember the word, inwardly cursing herself for being so dumbstruck.

“The wedding?” He offered, and she nodded.

“Yes! The wedding, I’m here for the wedding.” The young woman said, wishing that Gendry’s lips didn’t look quite so smooth, instantly regretting focusing on his lips as his tongue darted out to wet them, a move that she should not have been so affected by, yet there she was, practically a puddle. _Of fucking course Gendry would be at this wedding, the happy couple of which I have the most obscure connection to, Jesus fucking Christ._ She thought, absolutely exasperated by how much this man had managed to accidentally weave his way into her everyday life.

“Are you here for the bride or groom?” Gendry asked, breaking Arya away from her thoughts.

“Well, I’ve never actually met either of them.” She said, causing Gendry to arch his brow in amused confusion. “I was invited as a guest’s plus one.” She clarified, and he nodded understandingly.

“Ah, I see.” He murmured before she chuckled, shaking her head slightly before continuing.

“It’s actually a very weird sort of connection. I’m here with the estranged father of the bride.” Arya said with a laugh. Upon hearing the words _estranged father of the bride_ , Gendry’s brow furrowed.

“Robert Baratheon? You know him? And you’re his date?” Gendry asked, the amusement gone from his voice, leaving only confusion in its place.

“Well, I’m not like, his _date_ date or anything, god that would be disturbing. No, Uncle Bob and his wife Cersei just decided that it would be in poor taste if he came with her considering the fact that he left Mya and her family to get sober and figure himself out, and very quickly into doing that, they met, fell in love, and got married, so I offered to be his guest for the occasion at Christmas so he wouldn’t have to face it alone.” She said the words nonchalantly, but Gendry suddenly looked horrified.

“Robert Baratheon is your uncle?” He asked, almost a whisper, fear in his blue eyes.

“Well not biologically or anything. Bob and my dad went to boarding school together as boys, so he’s always been a close friend of the family, a sort of honorary uncle.” She replied, slightly confused as Gendry nodded slowly, a relief seeming to wash over him as he contemplated her answer. “What about you? Bride or groom?” Arya asked to break the weird silence that had settled over them, but before Gendry could get a chance to answer, Robert had made his way to her side, holding their individual room keys.

“Here’s your key, kiddo. Found someone to talk to already?” Robert asked with a smile on his face before turning to Gendry and reaching out his hand. “I’m Robert Baratheon, it’s nice to meet you.” Gendry furrowed his brows slightly as if in confusion before tentatively reaching out to shake his hand, his jaw set in a firm clench.

“We’ve met, actually.” He said, his voice coming off in a sort of neutral tone, yet Arya could hear the animosity beneath the surface.

“Oh I’m sorry, remind me of your name?” Robert asked, still holding onto his hand.

“Gendry Waters.” As soon as he’d introduced himself, Bob’s eyes went wide with an almost horror as Gendry dropped his hand. “It’s good to see you too, Dad.” He spat before stalking off into the crowd. Arya’s brows furrowed in confusion before she realized what had just happened, her jaw dropping in utter shock. _HOLY MOTHER FUCKING SHIT, GENDRY IS BOB’S SON. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit._ Those words kept rolling through her mind as she tried to reconcile the idea of Gendry, her beloved teacher/lover, with the idea of his being Robert, dear family friend and honorary uncle’s, estranged son. It really wasn’t working.

“Holy shit,” Arya whispered as Robert stood frozen, the embarrassment and shame of not recognizing his own son paralyzing him. As soon as she’d overcome the initial shock and surprise of finding out that they were in fact estranged father and son, she turned her attention back to her uncle.

“Oh god, Bob, are you alright? Do you need some water? Do you need a phone call with Cersei or your old sponsor, do you need a meeting, a psychologist, what do you need? I’m here to help.” Arya asked, her voice soft and gentle as she gently guided him to a large and soft armchair. Robert shook his head.

“No, I’m just stupid. I should’ve recognized him, he’s my firstborn son. Gendry’s always been my spitting image, I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him.” He muttered, continuing to chastise himself for his mistake. Arya sighed, working through in her mind what she could do to help him.

“Alright, let’s just go and greet Mya and Edric, I assume, and then we’ll get you to your room, yeah?” She offered, to which Robert furrowed his brows and looked up at her with confusion.

“How did you know Edric’s name? I never told it to you.” He asked, his voice displaying the mixture of confusion, shame, and agitation that he was going through.

“Well, since I now know that Gendry is your second child, and Gendry has mentioned his younger brother Edric to me in the past, I just put 2 and 2 together.” After giving her explanation, Robert only looked more confused, brows knitting even further together.

“What do you mean _in the past?_ Did you know Gendry before today?” He asked, seeming almost scared, an emotion that was still fairly foreign for Arya to see on Robert, only making it harder for her to make sense of a single goddamn thing that had happened within the past five minutes.

“Yeah, we’re pretty close, actually. He goes to Oldtown, that’s how we met.” Bob nodded, clearly distracted in his thoughts of self criticisms.

“I’m just going to greet them later at the rehearsal dinner.” Robert said suddenly, standing up in one swift motion. Arya stood up right next to him and grabbed his wrist before he could hurry off somewhere on his own.

“No, come on, Bob, you’re getting this done.” She insisted gently tugging him back towards the crowd of the rest of the lobby away from the sitting area.

“Arya—“ He started, his voice almost a whine.

“You can’t hide from your children any longer, alright? Just go and say hi to them, thank Mya for inviting you, and then we’ll be on our merry way, but you’ll have to face the music at some point.” Arya said, chiding him as if he were a little boy throwing a tantrum. Robert looked up at at her and sighed heavily, nodding his head as he stood.

“They’re over there, by the big fireplace. I know that Mya and her fiancé Mychel are, at least. I don’t know if Edric, Gendry, or Ella will be there.” He muttered, gesturing over to where Arya could see a particularly concentrated crowd of people, which Arya assumed were guests coming to greet the happy couple before the rehearsal dinner. She then nodded and squeezed Robert’s arm, nodding at him to let him know that she had his back.

As they got closer and closer to the soon-to-be newlyweds, Arya could almost feel her uncle getting more and more restless and nervous, the incessant tapping of his fingers against his thighs and the constant attempts to look up ahead giving him away. Finally, the group up in front of them moved aside after their greetings were done, and Robert stood face to face with his three eldest children for the first time in ten years. Gendry’s face was stoic, entirely neutral to the untrained eye, but Arya could see that underneath, there was a veiled layer of betrayal, anger, and upset. The man that she assumed was Edric was standing next to him, the two brothers almost identical. As she looked at them, she began to wonder how she’d never noticed the similarities in Gendry’s physical attributes to Robert. Mya was standing next to her fiancé Mychel, who was greeting his own line of guests. She had shoulder length black hair, striking blue eyes, with a tall and willowy build. There was a moment of silence, an awkwardness settling in the air before Mya smiled.

“Thanks for coming, Dad. It’s good to see you.” She said softly. The moment that she had finished speaking, Robert’s face erupted into a beaming smile of relief as he hugged his daughter for the first time in ten years.

“It’s good to see you too, Mya. Thank you for inviting me.” There was a brief moment where Mya and Robert held their embrace with a warmth before separating, that warmth disintegrating the moment that Bob laid his eyes on his second-born. Gendry arched his brow as if to challenge him, but he didn’t say anything aloud so as to not upset Mya. Sensing the tension, Arya then stepped forward.

“Congratulations on the wedding! I assume that you’re Mya?” Arya asked, a smiling face easing the tension. The bride to be smiled back, but it was guarded.

“Thank you, and yes, I am. If you don’t mind me asking, who are you?” Mya asked, and Arya realized that Gendry must not have told them about her being their father’s plus one.

“My name’s Arya Stark, I’m Bob’s guest. He and my dad have been best friends since before I was born, so when I heard about the wedding, I offered to come with him.” At the younger’s explanation, Mya smiled before reaching out to shake her hand.

“Well it’s good to meet you, Arya Stark. Thank you for coming.” As soon as Mya had dropped her hand, Edric picked it back up.

“I’m Edric Waters, Mya’s youngest brother. It’s good to meet you.” He said with a polite smile, Arya returning it as she finished shaking his hand.

Then she turned to Gendry. His expression was relatively unreadable, but the Stark thought that she detected a hint of amusement somewhere within those bright blue eyes. Neither of them reached out their hand, prompting Mya to smack her oldest brother on the arm.

“Gendry, don’t be a dick, shake her hand.” She hissed at her brother, prompting a small smirk to dash across his face, all the while staring at Arya.

“Actually, we already met.” Arya said, but at the same time, Gendry began saying something else.

“We know each other.” The younger of the pair eyed her TA as if to question him, yet his only response was a playful arch of the brow. Arya cleared her throat before turning her attention back to Mya.

“I’m an undergrad anthropology major at OU, and Gendry is my TA. I actually had no idea until a few minutes ago that Gendry and Robert were even related.” Arya explained, albeit somewhat awkwardly. Mya nodded in understanding before smiling once more.

“Well, thank you both for coming. The rehearsal dinner is in six hours, and you’ll receive your seating assignments there, so for now, just go and relax!” Mya said, her tone suggesting that they should leave. Arya and Robert nodded before tearing themselves away from the trio and towards the elevators. And although she didn’t look back to check, Arya could feel Gendry’s watchful eyes on her back as she walked away, only confirming this when she had entered the elevator, meeting his blue eyes with her grey as the doors closed.

•

After seeing Bob safely back to his hotel room, Arya hurried into her own, shutting the door behind her, trying desperately to process what the fuck had just happened over the past fifteen minutes.

So Gendry not only is at the wedding, but is the brother of the bride, making him the biological son of her dear family friend, Robert Baratheon. So she’d slept with Uncle Bob’s son on multiple occasions and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Arya pulled out her phone and opened her messages with Gendry. She tried to type out an explanation, a question, an apology, anything to try and make sense of it all, but her mind came up blank. Finally she just turned off her phone and sighed, falling backwards onto her bed. She lay there like that for a few minutes before her phone chimed with a text notification.

 **Gilly:** _Omg Arya something crazy is going down. Call me when you can._

As much as she wanted to hear about her friend’s drama, Arya didn’t have the energy to focus on anything but what was happening between Gendry and Robert. She skipped out on the rehearsal dinner, trying to read her book, but when the words of Poe’s poetry all began to seem like the same sentiments over and over again, she shut the book and sighed.

“Good god, I need a drink.” She mumbled to herself before grabbing her purse and heading down to the hotel bar. When she arrived, she was only slightly surprised to find Gendry nursing a beer alone at the bar, two empty glasses next to him. Arya slowly approached before sitting down on the stool next to him.

“Hey, you. How’s... everything?” Even as she asked it, she cringed at the awkward choppiness of the question. Gendry gave a single chuckle, sipping his beer once more before giving an answer.

“How’s everything? Well, My sister gets married in t-minus 20 hours, and _everything_ ,” He paused to make a sweeping gesture with his arm to indicate the entire hotel. “Had been going just fine. I was milling about the lobby, saying hello to old friends, new friends, family members, all the different guests, happy as a clam until I see that my father, you know, the one I haven’t seen since I was thirteen and a half, has brought the woman I’m a little in love with in attendance. And not only that, but he didn’t even recognize me! Not until I had to literally tell him my name did he realized that he was looking on the face of his son.” Gendry finished, grimacing as he took another swig of beer. _A little in love with._ Arya was the woman that he was a little in love with, and hearing that alone was enough to send her into a funk for an entire day, but she didn’t have the time to dwell on it for now. She eyed the two empty glasses of beer that sat beside him with caution before shooting a careful look back at him.

“Is this all that you’ve had tonight?” She asked, and Gendry nodded as he finished off the drink in front of him before immediately motioning to get the bartender’s attention, who was walking over to him from the other side of the bar.

“Yeah, why?” He asked as the bartender stopped in front of them, turning Arya’s attention away from the immediate situation at hand for just a moment.

“Hi sir, could we get two glasses of your finest cognac?” She asked, prompting a nod from the bartender before she turned back to an almost horrified looking Gendry.

“I can’t pay for that, Arya.” He whispered, half terrified, half impressed. She grinned at him amusedly.

“Don’t worry, I’m billing it straight to Bob’s room.” As the two glasses were placed in front of them, Gendry arched his brows with impress, the two of them raising their glasses.

“I’ll drink to that.” They clinked their glasses together before sipping, Arya’s brows furrowing in concern as Gendry downed the entire drink in one go.

“Gendry, you should cut yourself off. I know all this can’t be easy to deal with, but you don’t want drinking to become a crutch, not with alcoholism running in your genetic family.” She said, earning a joyless chuckle from him.

“See, it’s so fucked up that you know that and I don’t. I know almost nothing about the man that fathered me and my siblings and you grew up with him as a constant figure in your life. But if you insist,” Gendry waved down the man behind the bar again. “Teddy, there’s a twenty in it for you if I wake up tomorrow morning having not ingested anymore alcohol, yeah?” The man nodded with a grin in response as the brother of the bride turned his attention back to Arya.

“You wanna hear the last memory that I have of him?” She really didn’t, but she was absolutely not going to stop him by any means. “It was the day after Mya’s fifteenth birthday, and Robert has taken me out to get ice cream. Now that whole weekend, he’d just showered my brother and sister with gifts, non stop, as Eddie’s twelfth birthday had been three weeks earlier. This was the one day he had set aside for me. I felt so happy, just spending the day with him. It had just never occurred to me that a son should never have to feel lucky for his father’s affection and attention. So we get to this ice cream shop that my mum could never afford more than a single scoop in a kiddie cone at, and Robert tells me to order anything I like. So I get this massive triple scoop of rocky road with sprinkles in one of those giant waffle cones. I felt like a prince. It was when he pulled out his wallet to pay that it seems the veil was finally lifted for me. You see, out of his wallet fell a little picture. Now I knew that he had three other kids with a woman named Cersei, but I had always just assumed that he saw them as much as he saw us. But that one picture was a family portrait of the five of them laughing in front of this big house all in matching Christmas sweaters. That was the day that I realized who my father really was. That while he was living a happily married life with his new wife and their three perfect little children in a big house with their matching Christmas sweaters, my mother, brother, sister, and I were all still crammed into a two bed one bath apartment in King’s Landing, considering ourselves lucky when he came to visit us twice, maybe three times a year for birthdays. From that day onward, I told myself that I’d never let myself get blinded by a triple scoop ice cream cone ever again, not while my mother was working two full time jobs so that I could get a single scoop in kiddie cone on the weekends. And six months later, when he didn’t show up to my fourteenth birthday, I knew that I had been right about him; that he couldn’t be bothered to deal with his first family.” As he finished speaking, Arya rested a gentle hand on his arm, prompting him to meet her gaze.

“You deserved better, Gendry. You deserved the Robert Baratheon that I knew growing up. I wish that I could say something to make it better, but I know that there are no words in my vocabulary that can do the trick because I myself was never forced to live without a father. And as a depressed, fatherless alcoholic once said, ‘Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.’” Arya said, earning a small, but genuine smile from Gendry.

“I wonder how Poe would’ve handled this situation.” He mused, contemplating the liquor sitting in its fancy bottles up on the shelf behind the bar.

“Well, knowing Poe, he probably would’ve handled it exactly the way you are now; drinking his sorrows away while a young woman next to him begs him to call it a night and go to bed. Although, now that I think about it, this situation would be a lot more accurate if I were dying of tuberculosis.” Gendry looked at her with amusement and confusion as she grinned. “All the most significant women in Edgar’s life died of consumption, more commonly known now as tuberculosis. His mother, Eliza Poe, died of consumption when he was two, one year after his father walked out. His unofficially adoptive mother, Frances Allan, died of consumption when he was twenty. His wife and potential little sister figure, Virginia Clemm Poe, died of consumption when he was thirty eight and she was only twenty four. Even the married woman he was rumored to have had an affair with, Frances Sargent Osgood, died of consumption, although that occurred after his death.” Arya grinned as Gendry eyed her with curiosity and amazement.

“I told you, I know my fucking Edgar Allan Poe.” She said, bragging with a grin. Gendry chuckled before standing up and telling the bartender to bill the drinks to Robert Baratheon’s room. He then turned to face his friend, the two of them staring the other down with vague amusement on their faces before Gendry chuckled and shook his head.

“Good lord, Arya, what am I gonna do with you?” He murmured. She grinned up at him before responding.

“I think the real question is what would you do without me?” She mused, earning an eye roll and a playful grin from Gendry before they both began to walk towards the elevators.

They stepped onto an elevator, quickly noting that they were the only two people on it. Arya pressed **3** and Gendry pressed **5**. They stood side by side, trying to look anywhere but at each other, which was a lot easier said than done considering the fact that the ceiling and all four walls of said elevator were made of antique looking silver polish mirror glass. When the doors finally opened at the _ding!_ of the third floor, Arya paused for a moment before stepping off.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” She asked, earning a thoughtful nod from Gendry who, despite having his eyes directly on her, seemed thoroughly distracted.

“I’ll see you then.” There was a brief pause, a moment of uncertainty between the two of them before Arya stepped off the elevator and hurried back to her room to retire for the night.

+

The day of the wedding was beautiful. The morning came and went with ease, and Gendry and Edric has enjoyed getting to spend some time with Mychel and the other groomsmen in the afternoon, all of them teasing him about how nervous he was. Mya had gotten ready with her bridesmaids, but had made sure to gather her mother and two brothers outside her dressing room for a first look, and Gendry, under normal circumstances, would’ve cursed himself for tearing up over something so trivial, but he truly didn’t care. She looked so lovely and so happy when she first walked out to seem them, but nothing matched the love and happiness on her face as she looked at Mychel while her mother walked her down the aisle. Gendry stood by Edric in the line of groomsmen, watching on with love and affection as his sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law began the ceremony.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Mya Waters to Mychel Redfort. When these two young people met. . .” The officiant dragged on for some time, regaling the story of how they had met and fallen in love before starting the vows. Gendry wanted to have paid attention, and it certainly had been quite easy to do so earlier before the ceremony, but he found himself utterly unable to focus on the words behind recited at the altar when he had a perfect view of Arya Stark sitting in the middle of the crowd looking like _that_. He stared at her, admiring just how beautiful and perfect she looked sitting there smiling all in red, only torn away from his thoughts when the crowd began cheering.

“It is my honor to present to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Mychel Redfort!” Gendry quickly began clapping and cheering with everyone else as he watched his sister and brother-in-law running down the aisle with bright smiles on their faces.

About a half an hour later, the reception at the ballroom of the hotel was in full swing. Gendry was trying to act casual about the fact that he had spent the past ten minutes at his sister’s wedding reception searching for Arya, but he had spent the past ten minutes at his sister’s wedding reception searching for Arya, so it was getting increasingly more difficult to maintain an air of nonchalance. When he finally did spot her, the DJ announced the arrival of the newlyweds and the commencement of dinner, forcing Gendry to take his seat up at the wedding table. Dinner went by quickly, meaning that it was time for speeches. Mychel’s best man gave a witty but heartfelt tribute to the couple, and Mya’s maid of honor gave a hilarious roast. Once they had finished, it meant that he and Mychel’s sister would be going up to give the speech for the siblings. Lara, Mychel’s sister, shared a sweet anecdote from their childhood about always getting each other the best stuffed bear, finishing the toast with a slightly odd but sweet proclamation that Mya was the best stuffed bear. Gendry stood and clinked his little glass once the applause had died down and began giving his toast.

“Alright, I’m going to try and make this quick for the sake of those who came for a wedding and not a weirdly specific four part comedy special.” He began, ironically forcing him to pause for the crowd’s laughter. “Growing up, Mya, myself, and our brother Edric were raised by our mum in a tiny apartment in King’s Landing. There would be certain nights when Mum had to work late and couldn’t afford a babysitter that Mya and I would have to put ourselves to bed. So that meant we’d have to prepare and eat our own dinners, always consisting of whatever ice cream and sweets were left in the kitchen,” Another pause for laughter. “Washing the dishes, which normally consisted of giving them to Eddie to use as toys while he splashed around in the bath, and coming up with our own bedtime stories. Now, before Mya turned eight and had yet to master the art of reading, we’d just come up with our stories ourselves. We’d all sit together on the couch in the living room and we’d talk about all the wonderful things that we’d have in the future. Sometimes, these wonderful things would be totally far fetched. For example, _When I grow up, I’m going to live in a castle with all my alligators._ That’s a direct quote from seven year old Edric. Other times, these wonderful things would be simple. _When I grow up, I’m going to have a nice green yard with a wooden fence._ That was one of mine. This tradition kept on even after we had all learned to read actual books for bedtime and even after Mya moved into the other bedroom with our mum so she wouldn’t have to share with her two kid brothers. On Mya’s sixteenth birthday, our father decided that for the first time since we were babies, he wasn’t going to come for a birthday visit for Mya to bring her a gift. Mum and all her friends did everything they could to make it the best day possible, but she was heartbroken. And that night, Mya, Edric, and I went out to the fire escape to share the last piece of cake. Mum had gone to sleep early so she could be up in time for her morning shift, so it was just the three of us out there. Then Mya said something that I will always remember so clearly in my mind. She said, _When I grow up, I’m going to have someone who’s never going to leave me and break my heart._ Now most of those wonderful things that my siblings and I wished for late at night haven’t come true. I live in a small little apartment in Oldtown with no yard, nor a wooden fence. Edric, for all his boasting about money, still does not have a castle with all his alligators. But there is one wonderful thing that has come to pass. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Mychel Redfort for the first time in person. And today, my sister married someone who is never going to leave her or break her heart.” There was a chorus of applause and heartfelt _awwww’s_ from throughout the crowd before he began the conclusion of his speech. “For the past twenty some years, myself, my mother, and my brother Edric have all had the privilege of loving our daughter and sister, Mya. In the words of Edgar Allan Poe, we loved with a love that was more than love. And I can confidently say that I will go to bed easy tonight knowing that she has married someone who will love her just as much.” Gendry paused once more to raise his glass, everyone else in the room following suit. “To Mya and Mychel; may you always be blessed with the wonderful things of your dreams. Cheers.” The crowd echoed the word _Cheers!_ before drinking as Gendry bent down to give his sister who was now weeping a warm embrace and a kiss on the cheek.

Once dinner was over, the DJ had everyone make room on the dance floor for Mya and Mychel to have their first dance as husband and wife. After the romantic ballad was done, others began crowding the dance floor as the DJ began to play some upbeat pop tunes. Gendry was sipping his champagne from the edge of the crowd when he felt a tap on his arm.

“Hey G,” The brother of the bride smiled down at Arya as she grinned up at him. “That was a nice speech you made. You’ve gotten better since your last lecture.” She teased, causing him to grin while rolling his eyes.

“Thanks A.” He replied. There was a brief moment of pause before Gendry’s eyes went wide with shock. “Fuck!” He muttered, causing Arya to furrow her brows in concern.

“What is it, what’s wrong?” She asked. Gendry turned to her quickly, a somewhat masked panic on his face.

“Real quick, I need to to pretend to be my girlfriend for a minute, can you do that?” He asked, knowing how stupid and desperate his voice must sound. Despite the apparent confusion on her face, she nodded in agreement. “Great, I owe you one.” Gendry said quietly right before he was interrupted by a female voice while Arya turned away for a moment to respond to a text.

“Hey Gend,” He turned his eyes up from Arya’s face to see who he had already seen approaching them; Bella Rivers, his high school girlfriend who had cheated on him multiple times during their beach week with friends before breaking up with him.

“Wow, Bella, hey.” He said, feigning surprise. She had dyed her hair a bright Jessica Rabbit red, and was wearing a slinky black dress that showed off curves that she had not had when they’d just graduated high school. But more or less, she was still the same person he remembered.

“So how’ve you been, what’ve you been up to?” She asked, her voice as sickly sweet as oversaturated sweet tea.

“I’ve been well, currently earning my masters in social and cultural anthropology at Oldtown University.” Bella nodded, her smile bright but disinterested in the conversation, and Gendry realized why she’d come over to talk to her high school ex at a wedding: she wanted to get laid.

“That’s awesome! Guess OU worked out pretty well for you in undergrad.” She purred, taking a step towards him. “So tell me about your life! You seeing anyone at the moment?” She asked. There it was. The _are you still single?_. It was like the real life version of a porn ad asking if you wanted to hook up with horny singles in your area. Thankfully, Arya returned right at that moment, saving him from having to come up with an awkward excuse on his own. She took him by surprise when she wrapped a hand around his tie and gently tugged it downwards so that his lips met hers in a quick and chaste kiss. The surprise should’ve come from the kiss itself, yet Gendry found that the only surprising thing about it was how casual and normal it felt.

“Hey babe, sorry I had to step away for a second. Who’s the friend?” Arya said, pausing before innocently asking the question. Bella’s eyes had widened with disappointed surprise as Gendry slid his arm around Arya’s waist, his hand stopping to rest on her hip.

“Arya, this is an ex of mine from high school, Bella Rivers. And Bella, to answer your question, this is my girlfriend, Arya Stark.” He said with a smile, relishing in the view of Bella struggling to put on a polite smile as she shook Arya’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Arya. I’m sure Gendry’s mentioned me before.” Bella said, realizing that if she was going to get rejected, she’d be going down swinging, trying to get in at least one jab at the new girlfriend, but Arya remained undeterred.

“Yeah, he did mention you once before. We were talking about a very interesting yelp review and he mentioned that his high school girlfriend had cheated on him when they were together. So it’s nice to finally meet you!” Arya didn’t stumble once as she finished shaking hands with Bella, who was now staring wide eyed and open mouthed in utter speechlessness.

“Um, I’m gonna go dance. You two have fun.” She said eventually, disappearing into the crowd of sweaty bodies throbbing in time to the beat of the music. Once she was out of sight, Arya and Gendry erupted into laughter.

“Okay but did you see her fucking face! She was _horrified!_ ” Arya managed in between breaths of laughter, the two of them exchanging jokes and chuckles, seemingly unaware of the fact that they were being drawn onto the dance floor until they were holding hands, spinning and twirling around as they scream-sang the lyrics to whatever song was playing, true conversation having died, yet they couldn’t tell the difference. Eventually, a slower song came on, and Arya let her head rest against Gendry’s chest as she wrapped an arm around his waist, holding his free hand as his other occupied the small of her back. They swayed together on the dance floor, gentle and slow with the chords of the song. At one point, towards the end, Arya stopped to look up at Gendry only to find that he was already looking down at her. As the finishing notes faded out, they both began to lean in, as if drawn together by magnets. Their eyelids had fluttered shut, their faces a mere few inches apart when someone interrupted them.

“Oh my god, Arya Stark?” The two jumped apart to find a tall red headed man built like a rugby player staring at Arya with surprise and amazement. Gendry watched Arya’s jaw dropped as she threw her arms around the neck of this mystery redhead who picked her up and spun her around. He already hated this guy. When the ginger asshole set her back down, he cleared his throat, and Arya seemed to remember that he was there.

“Gendry, this is Mycah Bullard, we went to this summer fencing camp together as kids. And Mycah, this is Gendry Waters, he’s um, a uh, friend of mine.” She explained, Gendry noticing the blushing of her cheeks while Mycah nodded, seemingly oblivious as he reached out and shook his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you Gendry. I loved your speech, it was really great, very genuine.” _I will very genuinely kick your ass if you keep looking at Arya like that._ He thought to himself while he put on a strained and polite smile.

“Thanks. I assume you’re here for Mychel?” Gendry asked, and Mycah nodded.

“Yeah, he’s my cousin.” There was a momentary pause before Mycah turned his attention back to Arya.

“So what have you been doing, what’ve you been up to? Last we saw each other you were, what, fourteen?” He asked, and Arya smiled as she nodded.

“Yep, and you were eighteen. I remember because it was your first year as a counselor and you thought you were better than all the campers because you’d aged out of it.” She was teasing him, but all Gendry could think was that he was looking at her with hungry eyes and didn’t seem surprised about it meaning he’d probably looked at her like that before when she was underaged. Perv. Mycah then made a bold move that Gendry wasn’t expecting.

“Arya, would you dance with me for a bit? I’d love to catch up a bit more.” The ginger pervert asked suddenly. Arya opened her mouth as if to accept before turning to face Gendry.

“Would you mind?” She asked, and he clenched his teeth and feigned nonchalance, shrugging his shoulders as if it was truly nothing. Because it was truly nothing. She’s just his student. That’s all. Nothing to him if she danced with a guy who was maybe probably a pervert at their fencing summer camp. Truly, nothing. As Mycah took her by the hand, Gendry tried not to make it look like he was storming off as he stormed off to an empty dinner table to drink some champagne. He tried to distract himself with alcohol and his phone, but his attention kept wandering back with his eyes to Arya dancing with Mycah. It was very tame dancing, hands and arms only touching hands and arms, barely any contact between their two bodies like they were genuinely just two old friends at a wedding, but he still felt jealous watching them together.

“Okay I know that bulls are supposed to get all angry when they see red cloth, but Jesus Christ, try not to charge.” Gendry managed to tear his eyes away from where Arya was twirling in her bright red dress to see his sister sitting down in the seat opposite to him. He sighed as he leaned back, sipping his champagne and grimacing.

“You always get more and more creative with those bull jokes, My, which is my creative way of saying you’re reaching.” He said, trying not to sound _too_ upset given that it was her wedding day and he didn’t want to tarnish the memory of it with a bad attitude. Mya laughed as she nodded her head.

“Hey man, I’m still the bride, so you gotta be nice to me.” She said. When her brother didn’t respond beyond a light grunt, Mya followed his line of vision to see Arya laughing, talking and dancing with that red headed pervert. She frowned when she looked back at her brother.

“Didn’t that girl say that she’s your student?” She asked with furrowed brows. Gendry took another swig of his drink as he nodded.

“She’s a first year undergrad in the social anthro major that I TA in.” He mumbled, still watching Arya’s every movement. Mya nodded once.

“Got it, got it. You want to fuck your student.” That got his attention. Gendry whipped his head around to face his sister.

“What?” He demanded. Mya raised her brows as she sipped from her own glass of champagne.

“Are you trying to tell me that you don’t want to fuck her?” She was challenging him, pressing him for more. Gendry glared at her before leaning back again and finishing off his champagne, his silent brooding enough of a response.

“Look Bull, I’m not gonna encourage you fraternizing with your students, especially those that call our father _Uncle Bob_ , but I can see she means a lot to you. So just get off your ass and let her know.” Mya said, raising her brows in challenge when Gendry looked at her again, softer this time before nodding his head. As the song faded out, Arya and the maybe-pervert hugged before waving goodbye to one another, giving Gendry his cue to approach her. She seemed a little bit tipsy, a little bit flirty, and a lotta bit cute as she stumbled towards him in her heels, Gendry laughing as he steadied her in his arms. She was chuckling as she looked up at him, but there was something off. She was laughing in long, drawn out breaths, she could barely seem to stand on her own two feet, and she was pale and sweaty. Gendry’s smile disappeared as he led her off of the dance floor, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead.

“Arya, are you feeling okay?” He asked as he sat her down in a chair. She started almost humming as she giggled and nodded. Gendry knelt in front of her, using his phone as a flashlight to check her pupils. She was relatively fine, just extremely drunk.

“Alright, come on you, let’s get you back to your room.” He tossed her arm around his neck, but found that without someone supporting her weight from the other side, she was impossible to carry. So he scooped her up wedding style and left the ballroom, walking her back towards the elevators in the lobby.

“Geeeeeendryyyyyyy.” Arya lulled, giggling as she tried to bring her face up to his ear, failing miserably to support her neck.

“What?” He asked, chuckling to himself as he barely managed to press the up button.

“I have _hic_ a question _hic_ for youuuuu- _hic-_ -uuuu.” Arya slurred as Gendry stepped onto the elevator impressing himself with how easily he pressed the button for the third floor and then instantly after, managed to press _door close_.

“What’s your question?” He asked, the elevator lurching as it brought them up through the second floor and dinged at the third, him pausing to readjust his grip as they stepped off.

“Why do they call _hic_ you the _hic_ bull?” She asked, surprising him when she tapped his shoulder once he’d reached her room, even managing to get down for a moment to get her room key. Gendry blushed as he took the card from her, swiping it with ease after she had fumbled with it for several moments.

“It’s embarrassing.” He said, but Arya’s eyes only widened with curiosity.

“Tell _hic_ me anyways.” She insisted, pulling him into her room. Gendry made sure that the door stay cracked open ajar as she lazily tried to undo the zipper on the back of her dress before Gendry just went over to help her, cautious not to touch her skin as he did so.

“I got the nickname in high school when I first slept with Bella in our junior year. She was the third girl I’d slept with, and every time I slept with a girl, I was... I was um...” He found himself at a loss for words as Arya struggled to take off her heels as she sat on her bed, dressed only in a strapless bra and a plain cotton pair of panties, still managing to look like a goddess. “Well, what does a bull rider do to a bull?” He finally managed. Arya giggled as she looked up at him, tossing one of her shoes to the other side of the room.

“Ride them? Ohhhh, I see.” She said as he nodded in embarrassed amusement. Suddenly the room went quiet as Arya discarded her second shoe, standing up and approaching him.

“Maybe I wanna another go.” She whispered, bringing his hands up to her tits. Gendry inhaled sharply as he thought about how much he wanted this, wanted _her_. But the alcohol on her breath was overpowering. She was probably past blackout drunk at that point. So with great difficulty and self restraint, Gendry gently took her wrists and kissed her chastely on the forehead before stepping back.

“You’re drunk, Arya. Get some rest, drink some water. I can’t take advantage of you like this.” She seemed slightly stunned as he nodded curtly and left her room, muscles shaky before shutting her door behind him. When he went to go back to the elevators, who should he find stepping off on the third floor but his father. He tried to avoid eye contact, but it was too late, Robert had already seen him.

“Gendry, wait.” Bob didn’t make any physical motions to stop his son from getting on the elevator, but something in his voice made Gendry turn around. “I liked your toast.” Gendry rolled his eyes before turning back.

“If you have any judgements, you’re about ten years too late.” He muttered, but Robert grabbed his arm this time, physically keeping him from leaving.

“No, Gendry, I mean it. I’ve been a terrible father to you three. I was so worried that you’d end up like me that I just panicked. I had three more with Cersei, so I figured that was God’s way of giving me a second chance at fatherhood. But I was wrong. I should’ve still been there for you, no matter how scared I was of fucking you up for good. Your mother did a damn fine job of bringing you lot up on her own, and I look at you all now and I wish I could say that I had something to do with it.” Robert paused for a moment before nodding his head back towards Arya’s door, now closed. “I didn’t see the full exchange, but you just took a beautiful young woman too drunk to stand back to her hotel room to see that she wasn’t taken advantage of before going to leave yourself. I think I didn’t recognize you because although you do look like I did, you’re already ten times the man I was.” Robert then stopped, releasing his light grip on Gendry’s arm as his son simply stood there, trying to take it all in while Bob walked back to his room. Before he was able to get the key card in the scanner though, Gendry had taken him by surprise by hugging him. The embrace only lasted a moment, but it was all either of them needed. The younger pulled away first before nodding to his dad, an understanding seeming to form between the two of them as they went back to their own separate hotel rooms for the night.

The next morning, Gendry woke up to find a text from Arya at the top of his phone’s notifications.

 **Arya:** _Hey thanks for last night. I had way too many while dancing with Mycah. Bob told me that you saw me safely back to my room and then left about thirty seconds later. You’re a good man._

 **Gendry:** _Stroke my ego a little more why don’t you?_

 **Arya:** _Just take the compliment, dumbass._

Gendry chuckled to himself as he exited out of their conversation, going to check his email instead. He was about to turn off his phone entirely until he got one more text chime notification.

 **Arya:** _Btw, I just changed your contact name in my phone to Bull. I may have been pretty drunk, but I do remember that one thing;)_

Jesus fucking Christ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY for clarification ahead of time: Gendry is called “bull” by his hometown and high school buddies bc bulls like to get ridden and Gendry is a canon bottom, so I had to slip that in (pun intended) somehow lol. I hope you enjoyed it!! Chapter 8 will (hopefully) be up by or before July 21, but if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s not sticking to my original publishing dates. Anywho, I hope this chapter was worth it the wait!! Thank you SO much for your patience and love!!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Arya’s flight is cancelled, something suspicious happens in the private car of a train, words are exchanged, and Arya’s clothes get drenched

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Only 142 days late from my original goal! For real though, thank you guys so much for supporting me and being so patient. I’ve rewritten this chapter and gutted it and rewritten it and had so much writer’s block and then went out into the wilderness of the pacific northwest for 80 days! BUT big shoutout to my girl kaitlynn @youwouldbemylady for encouraging me to keep writing, for proofreading this chapter and giving me amazing notes + feedback, and for always cheering me on, whether I’m on my bullshit (writer’s block) or on top of my bullshit. Thank you and I hope this was worth the wait!!!

The morning after the wedding, Arya had woken up with a massive hangover in her hotel room. She couldn’t remember half the previous night as she sat up, groaning and rubbing her forehead. When she realized that she was only wearing her bra and panties, she had turned around to see if Gendry was in bed with her, but was relieved to find that the extra space in the bed was not only empty, but cold as well, indicating that she had, in fact, spent the night alone. After going through the motions of the morning, packing up, cleaning up, and locking up, Robert met her at the third floor elevators. He gave her a single up and down glance before chuckling at her disheveled state.

“Rough night?” He joked as Arya gave a single half hearted chuckle.

“I think so. I don’t really remember much of it, to be perfectly honest. Maybe you’ll have to take me to a meeting.” She joked, nudging her uncle with her elbow. He laughed at that, his blue eyes twinkling.

“You just danced for a bit with someone you knew, and somewhere along the line, you had one too many, so Gendry saw you safely back to your room. He was in and out in less than a minute. Really, it was only about thirty seconds. He really seems to have turned out to be a good man.” Robert said, his voice trailing off with an air of admiration and wist. Arya smiled softly as she nodded.

“He is a good man.” She and Bob shared a brief nod before the elevator dinged and they entered. As soon as the doors shut, Arya pulled out her phone and shot her TA a quick text.

 **Arya:** _Hey thanks for last night. I had way too many while dancing with Mycah. Bob told me that you saw me safely back to my room and then left about thirty seconds later. You’re a good man._

Almost right away, he sent a response.

 **Gendry:** _Stroke my ego a little more, why don’t you?_

 **Arya:** _Just take the compliment, dumbass._

After sending the message, Arya was suddenly struck with a faded memory from the previous night, a realization that Gendry had been called “The Bull” so frequently because girls liked to ride him. Then, with a wicked grin, Arya changed his name in the contact information before sending him another text.

 **Arya:** _Btw, I just changed your contact name in my phone to Bull. I may have been pretty drunk, but I do remember that one thing;)_

After pressing send, Arya slid her phone back into the pocket of her pants as the elevator doors opened to the lobby, where dozens of guests were milling about, all hungover and either taking advantage of the free buffet breakfast or checking out to make their early flights. Bob and she would be boarding separate flights at 2:00 in the afternoon, his going back North, hers going back to Oldtown for the second semester. As Bob left her side to go check them out, Arya decided to check her messages. There was the regular sprinkling of memes from her group chats with her siblings and various friends and classmates, but one message from Gilly stood out in particular.

 **Gilly:** _Okay look, I know you’re at some wedding or whatever, but please for the love of god, CALL ME! This is some serious shit, A._

Arya, concerned, pressed the call icon on Gilly’s contact as she walked out to the courtyard, shivering in the cool mountain air, tugging the sleeves of her cardigan over her hands. Her roommate picked up on the second ring.

“Hey Gilligan, what’s—“ Before she could finish the sentence, Gilly had cut her off.

“Jesus Christ, Arya, finally! It bloody well took you long enough!” Her roommate snapped into the phone. Gilly’s voice cracked with a sniffle, causing Arya’s brows to knit in concern.

“I’m sorry, I was thoroughly hungover this morning and blackout drunk last night. What’s wrong? You sound like you’ve been crying.” She asked as another half-sob confirmed that she had correctly identified the noises as tears.

“Last night I was feeling _really_ hungry, like way more than normal, and then I noticed that I was a bit late and—“ Arya furrowed her brows in confusion as Gilly stopped to sob. “I went to the health resources center and I got three pregnancy tests, and they’re all positive, and now I’m— I’m—“ Gilly trailed off in sobs as Arya’s hand covered her mouth, realizing just what she was hearing.

“Oh my god,” She whispered. “Gilly, I’m on the next plane back. Do you need to call your mum? Does Sam know?” Gilly responded only in unintelligible sobs as her roommate unsuccessfully attempted to console her over the phone. After a few more minutes, Arya managed to text Ygritte telling her check in on Gilly before hanging up with one final _It’s gonna be okay, Gill._ She let out a heavy sigh as she sat down on a bench, distractedly eyeing the koi fish in the pond.

“Hey you,” Arya looked up to see Gendry smiling brightly as he walked towards her, offering a gentle smile in return. He was in his workout clothes, beads of sweat lining his face with his chest heaving, clearly having just gotten back from a morning run.

“Hey,” She replied as he stopped in front of her, not even thinking to allow herself to enjoy the view for a bit.

“What’s going on? You look stressed.” Gendry remarked, hitting the nail  
right on the head as his chest rose and fell in a pant. Arya sighed with an exasperation that came off as almost a chuckle.

“I mean, the stress is second hand, but yeah, I’m pretty stressed.” Gendry nodded at the remark, eyeing the spot on the bench next to her, as if he were weighing the pros and cons of sitting there.

“You wanna talk about it?” He asked casually, yet she heard the underlying uncertainty in his voice. Arya nodded and Gendry sat down next to her as she ran a hand through her hair and sighed heavily.

“Well, I just found out that one of my best friends is pregnant, and she’s only twenty years old and still at Oldtown as an undergrad. She’s in a committed relationship with the father, but she’s fucking terrified and now I’m fucking terrified by proxy.” Gendry began to nod slowly at the statement, letting it sink in. Suddenly his brows furrowed and he turned his head towards Arya, as if he were working something out in his head.

“Is it by any chance Sam Tarly’s girlfriend? Lily Craster?” He asked, earning a look of moderate surprise from Arya.

“Um, yeah. It’s, uh, it’s Gilly, though, not Lily. How did you know? She hasn’t even told Sam yet.” She asked, noticing that her phone had buzzed with a text alert from her airline.

“This is gonna sound weird, but she was my patient about two and a half weeks ago.” At this statement, Arya cocked her head in confusion, tuning her attention fully to Gendry, momentarily forgetting about the airline alert.

“What do you mean by _patient?_ ” She asked, utterly confused. Gendry chuckled softly.

“I’m a certified EMT and she collapsed out on the green by Crane, so I did a head to toe exam, took her vitals, asked her medical history, all that. She mentioned that she had recently gotten an IUD taken out as it was about to expire and had yet to find a new birth control, and then near the end, Sam Tarly came up and thanked me for helping his girlfriend. And I’ve seen the two of you out and about together, so it was a shot in the dark kinda guess, really, but I suppose I was right based on your reaction.” Arya nodded slowly as she leaned back against the bench, bringing her phone up to check the alert.

 **Westerosi Air Alerts:** _ATTENTION All passengers on flight 326 from Greater Eyrie to Oldtown: Due to technical errors and imminent weather, your flight has been delayed indefinitely. Call the 800 number listed on your digital receipt for questions._

“Oh christ on a fucking stick!” Arya exclaimed, shaking her head and clenching her fists in annoyance and agitation. Gendry leaned towards her at this, placing a gentle and tentative hand on her shoulder.

“What’s going on? Everything alright, A?” He asked, clearly concerned and confused.

Arya sighed as she shook her head, tossing her hands up in defeat.

“No, it’s nothing. My flight just got cancelled because of technical errors and imminent weather, apparently.” She mumbled, coming down from her initial outburst. Gendry nodded before opening his mouth slightly and pausing, as if he were considering whether or not to say something.

“What is it?” She asked, interest peaking out from behind her irritation.

“I have a travel rewards program with WesTrak for all my traveling home via train for the holidays, so, if you wanted, I could use some of my points and book you a seat.” He paused before doubling back, as if he’d just remembered their agreement to keep their relationship as professional as humanly possible. “I mean, only if you wanted.” He added the last bit, attempting to sound nonchalant, unsure if it was coming off right. Arya thought it over for a moment. On the plus side, she would get to go home for free. On the other plus side, she’d get to spend time with Gendry while doing that, and on the third plus side, she’d get to spend time looking at Gendry while going home for free. She refused to spend time thinking of a downside.

“That would be a life saver. Thank you, Gendry.” She said, smiling softly with gratitude shining in her grey eyes. Gendry returned the grin with relief and a façade of mere politeness.

“Of course, Arya.” He replied, letting his gaze linger for a moment longer before pulling out his phone to make the necessary arrangements to get her on the train.

+

If Gendry has known that the redhead pervert Mycah was going to be on that same train, he would’ve derailed the damn thing. But alas, he had been hideously unaware of this man’s presence prior to boarding. He and Arya were seated facing one another on two lovely chairs, three feet of carpeted floor littered with carry on luggage between them as the train began to lurch forward and chug along it’s faithful route. About ten minutes in, the ginger bastard was on his way to the goddamn bathroom when he called out Arya’s name and swept her into a hug. She had been so excited to see him, and had also been more than oblivious to Gendry’s displeasure at the dickfuck’s presence amongst them.

“Mycah, you remember my friend, Gendry, don’t you?” She asked as she separated herself from him. Mycah smiled and nodded genuinely, and Gendry gave a polite and all too forced smile in return.

“Yeah! Brother of the bride, right?” Mycah asked. Gendry nodded.

“Yep, that’s me. What are you doing on a train headed west? I thought Arya told me you were living in the Vale.” He said perhaps a bit too coolly, yet he lacked the self restraint to care. Mycah laughed, a light chuckle with no hint of insincerity in it. Dick.

“I’m going to visit my gran in the Riverlands. She broke her hip a couple weeks back, so I’m gonna stay with her for a little while and help around the house until she’s back on her own feet.” Mycah said, leaving a vaguely uncomfortable pause hanging in the air as they all stood.

“Arya, would you mind being stolen for a bit? I, ah, could use your expert advice on the matter of my.... _roommate situation_.” Gendry was thoroughly unsure of what the bloody fuck the _roommate situation_ was, but he was sure it was some bullshit. Arya, however, seemed to be of a different opinion, as she nodded almost reverently.

“Of course. Gendry doesn’t mind, don’t you, G?” He feigned a perfectly polite smile and nodded.

“Of course not, go on ahead. I’ll just have Edgar here to keep me company.” He waved his copy of his completed works of Poe with slightly awkward difficulty as Arya squeezed his arm in thanks before she hurried off with Mycah.

Gendry could barely concentrate on the Pit and the Pendulum as he saw them approach the entrance of a private car.

_Very suddenly there came back into my soul motion and sound— the tumultuous motion of the heart, and, in my ears, the sound of its beating._

The private cars on WesTrak were notorious for their inherently sexually deviant reputation— a small section of a car, completely soundproofed and completely locked. Only those who had paid upfront for a private car had the access code, which was changed every Tuesday. All sorts of people got on the trains for the sole purpose of leading some stranger or lover in there to fuck mindlessly for an hour and then get off at their stop. Mycah would have needed to rented the car in advance, meaning that he probably meant to use it with someone else. Maybe he was only trying to get to another car. This was a likely explanation— there was a narrow, yet entirely public hallway next to the actual private room for people to navigate through the train. Gendry settled on this as a highly probable explanation, and satisfied, went back to his Poe.

_Then a pause in which all is blank._

Mycah opened the door to the private car and entered. He turned and gestured for Arya to follow him.

_Then again sound, and motion, and touch— a tingling sensation pervading my frame. Then the mere consciousness of existence, without thought— a condition which lasted long._

All that Gendry could feel was panic, some anxiety that went far beyond petty nervousness. This was fear.

 _Then, very suddenly,_ thought, _and shuddering terror, and earnest endeavor to comprehend my true state._

Arya was looking both ways, a mere formality of guests going into private car rooms, for nobody truly cared who saw them. Gendry felt his hands grip tighter on the book. Arya was going into the private car and he was sitting still. He was letting this happen. He wasn’t doing or saying anything. He was only able to watch as Mycah punched in the code to unlock the private room inside the notorious car and felt himself break as Arya slipped in behind him and shut the door behind herself.

Ten minutes passed. Gendry finished the story.

Twenty minutes passed. He’d gotten up and gotten a shitty cup of coffee served at the dining car. The room was still occupied when he came back.

An hour had passed. At that point, Gendry had gathered his belongings after deciding to move cars as he simply could not stand to watch that ever-locked door a moment longer.

A weaker, more hideously grudging part of him compelled him to go through the dark, soundproofed car that held the private room. As he passed by the locked door, he could only imagine what sort of things Mycah was doing to Arya. What sort of things she was doing to him. What sort of things Gendry was dumb enough to believe that she only wanted to do to him. He didn’t stick around to find out.

When the train came to a halt in Oldtown as the sun was setting, Gendry left the train as fast as humanly possible, grabbing his luggage from the baggage claim before hurrying out to the public transport bus that faithfully delivered him a mere block away from his apartment. Once he had locked the door behind him, Gendry slid down the back of the wall and felt tears stinging at his eyes. He indulged a few silent tears to roll down his face before wiping them away, standing up, and getting to work on grading the essays that he’d neglected over the first large chunk of winter break.

+

When Mycah has been thoroughly satisfied with the two hours of work put in amidst the confines of that private car, he and Arya went back to the initial car where most of Arya’s belongings remained. She wished farewell and good luck to Mycah on her way off of the train as she hurried to collect her belongings as the train stopped at the station in Oldtown, barely enough time to think about where Gendry might have gone. She’d wanted to ask him about The Pit and the Pendulum, as that was the story next on his list for their, now quite frequent, discussions on the literature of Poe. But she didn’t have much time to think about it as she waved her arms to grab Sansa’s attention at the pick up outside of the train station. Her sister put her SUV in park and turned on the hazard lights before stepping out to help Arya load her luggage into the trunk. Once all the bags were properly stowed, the elder redhead turned to give her younger sister a brief hug with a “Welcome back, Arya.” whispered somewhere in the mix before the two of them hopped in the car.

“So, how was the wedding? Did Bob survive?” Sansa asked as she headed off onto the main roads. Arya buried her head in her hands, realizing that Sansa hadn’t been caught up on any of the events of the crazy wedding weekend. She also realized that Sansa, being not only her sister, but the only person who knew of Arya and Gendry’s affair was quite possibly the only person who could appreciate the full gravity of the situation.

“Oh, Bob survived alright. He spent a respectable amount of time with his kids. He was happy to see Mya get married, and her husband seems like a good match for her apparently. He caught up with his sons, too.” Arya paused, if only for dramatic effect. “His youngest of that batch, Edric, is some corporate big-shot at Storm’s End Banking at only twenty two years of age. He’s a near perfect copy of his older brother, who, believe it or not, is a graduate student at Oldtown University.” Sansa cocked her brows for just a moment, a very mild reaction to what was just about to be explosive news.

“Huh. Small world.” The redhead muttered. _Oh, you don’t even know the half of it._ Arya thought to herself. “D’ya know what he studies? Maybe we could all meet up for coffee sometime.” Sansa offered half heartedly as she changed lanes on the highway.

“I do know what he studies, as a matter of fact. He’s working towards his masters in social and cultural anthropology. In fact, he has a job with the university where he works as a TA for Dr. Selmy’s first year majors.” Arya said, watching her sister’s face very closely for her reaction. Sansa furrowed her brows until the realization dawned on her.

“He’s not—?” She asked, unable to accept that she had properly interpreted her sister’s implications.

“He is. Our dear Uncle Bob Baratheon’s firstborn son is Gendry Waters, the teacher with whom I have been carrying on an illicit affair.” Sansa’s mouth hung open like a fish, her blue eyes wide as she opened and closed them several times, shaking her head in bewilderment.

“That’s— That’s _fucking bonkers_ , Arya!” The elder exclaimed. Arya nodded her head in agreement.

“Oh, believe me, I’m _well_ aware.” The younger mused, shaking her head as if still in disbelief about the whole thing. “Well, at least my love life has always been a clusterfuck. I should’ve seen this coming. But enough about me, I still haven’t heard anything about your love life over the past few months. Any news to share, dear sister of mine?” Arya asked, hoping to divert her attention away from the ever-complicating topic of her and Gendry. At this, her sister seemed to blush a little.

“Well, um, I’ve— I’ve actually um... I’ve actually recently, uh, met someone.” Sansa said, stumbling over her words in a manner that was _very_ unlike herself. She was blushing like a rose while sorely losing a fight with her face to keep from grinning like an idiot. Arya cocked her left brow with a smirk.

“Have you, now? And when did you meet this mystery man?” The younger demanded. Sansa bit her lip, trying not to smile.

“About two months or so ago.” She mused, knowing fully well that she was admitting to holding back this news from her sister. Arya gasped, feigning offense as she grinned and playfully smacked her sister on the arm.

“Sansa! You’ve been holding out on me, you twat!” Sansa’s reply was nothing more than a shrug and nod paired with a grin. “Well, go on then, tell me about him! Is he tall?” The younger said, prodding. Sansa thought about it for a moment before nodding.

“Um, I’d say a bit closer to average height, but certainly on the taller end, so I suppose so.” Seeming satisfied with her sister’s response, Arya carried onto the next question.

“And how does he carry it? Is he like, a big muscled lumberjack, or like, soft teddy bear type, or is he more lanky?” She asked, earning another thoughtful expression from Sansa before the reply.

“I would say more willowy.” The older said softly.

“And how did you meet?” Arya pressed, grinning with excitement.

“Well, there was a formal dinner event that my political science professor was hosting for the governor to promote this new early intervention education for the smaller towns of The Reach that have those drug problems, and I was one of four students that were invited. And, well, we were seated next to each other at dinner, and we got to talking about this and that, and then the next thing I knew, we were exchanging numbers and setting up a first date.” Sansa was still grinning as her sister all but squealed with excitement for her.

“So is it serious?” The younger demanded.

“Pretty serious, yeah. I’ve, um, I’ve met the family already.” Sansa admitted, earning her another excited wide eyed and open mouthed smile from her sister.

“Sansa! That’s amazing! So what’s his name?” At this, Sansa gulped, deeming to become a bit nervous.

“Well, see, um, that’s the thing,” Sansa started, prompting Arya to knit her brows in confusion.

“What’s the thing? Do I know him?” The younger asked.

“I don’t know if you’ll approve.” The redhead admitted, her nervous excitement having given way to her visible anxiety.

“If I’ll approve? Sansa, I’m not a fucking nun, just tell me! It’s not a professor, is it?” Arya asked, suddenly far more intrigued. Sansa shook her head as she assured her it was not a professor.

“No, nothing like that, I’m not you.” Arya feigned offense at the playful insult, yet she could see that her sister was only using humor to distract her true nervousness. Arya suddenly got very serious, suspecting the worst.

“Please tell me that you’re not back together with Ramsay fucking Bolton.” Sansa shook her head fiercely.

“God, fuck no, nothing like that.” She insisted, prompting the younger to sigh with relief before continuing her investigation.

“So what’s the big deal then? Just tell me his name already!” Arya pressed. Sansa sighed, seeming to give into her sister’s insistence.

“Alright, just... Promise you won’t judge me or hate me or see me in a horribly different light?” The elder begged, nearly pleading. Arya squinted warily, but nodded all the same.

“Sansa, you’re my sister, I could never hate you. Just be out with this guy’s fucking name already, you’re starting to worry me.” At her younger sister’s assurance, Sansa took a deep breath and closed her eyes for just a moment before opening them and keeping her gaze trained firmly on the road, as if afraid what her sister’s reaction would be.

“This new flame of mine’s name is... Name is...” Sansa pauses and sighed as if in exasperation with her own hesitation. “Margaery.” Arya furrowed her brows in confusion.

“What kind of man is named Margaery?” Arya muttered, utterly confused, before looking over to see her sister giving her a sort of odd stare.

“Arya,” She whispered.

“What?” The younger replied, genuinely confused.

“Margaery isn’t a man.” At this quiet confession, Arya realized just exactly what had made her sister so nervous.

“Oh.” She said.

“Oh.” Her sister echoed, still clearly nervous.

“All that fucking fuss and build up just to tell me that you’re into women? Sansa, as long as you’re happy, valued, loved, and respected, I truly couldn’t give less of a shit about the gender of your partner.” At this, Sansa smiled so wide with relief that Arya thought her face would split.

“I didn’t know! I just thought that maybe all those years with Mum pushing us to be good little Catholics might’ve had some sway with you.” Sansa said, wiping away tears from her cheek as she laughed.

“Sansa don’t be fucking ridiculous! I absolutely _hated_ CCD!” The two sisters continued to laugh as Arya rubbed Sansa’s back, seeking to comfort her as she got through her tears of relief and joy. Once it had all returned back to calm, Arya spoke up again.

“So you like this Margaery?” She asked. Sansa grinned as she nodded, pulling off the highway and onto the smaller roads leading back to the OU campus.

“I really do. I... I really think I’m in love with her, Arya.” She confessed, earning a warm smile from her sister.

“Well, I very much look forward to meeting the woman who has my sister grinning like an idiot and saying the L word.” Arya said gently as they pulled up outside of Arya’s dorm. As they got out of the car, the two hurried over to one another to share a warm embrace before unloading Arya’s suitcase from the back of the car. Sansa gave her one last beaming grin before she drove off to her parking spot.

When Arya made it upstairs to her room, she cursed herself for nearly forgetting that Gilly was dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. As she opened the door tentatively, she spotted her friend standing by the window with her phone pressed against her cheek. Arya knocked once against the open door to make her presence known, prompting Gilly to turn around and wave silently with a smile before turning her attention back to her conversation.

“Yeah, Wednesday at noon works great! Thank you so much for squeezing me in, Dr. Segal, I really appreciate it. Yeah, I look forward to meeting you too! Goodbye.” Gilly then hung up the phone as she turned back to her friend who had since shut the door closed behind her and dropped her bags by her bed.

“Hey, Gil, how’s everything going?” Arya said gently, approaching her with open arms. Gilly indulged her in a brief but warm hug before sighing.

“Well, I told Sam about the whole me being pregnant with his child thing, and he was actually... _delighted._ I was sniffling and sobbing the whole way through and by the time I finally got out with it, he was crying with me, except that his were happy tears, and mine were terror tears. But we talked about it for a solid three hours, just the two of us, just going over all of our options and making sure that we really want to do this.” Gilly said, her smile showing that while she was afraid, she was ready to weather the storm.

“And so by ‘this’, you mean...?” Arya asked, not wanting to assume anything. For all she knew, that phone call with Dr. Segal could’ve been to arrange an appointment to terminate the pregnancy.

“We’re keeping the baby. It was unexpected, unplanned, but after having a couple of days to get used to the idea, it is no longer unwelcome.” As Gilly spoke, Arya smiled for her friend before wrapping her into another hug.

“I’m so proud of you, Gilligan. I can’t wait to meet that little squish growing in your tummy.” She mused, poking her friend’s belly as she did so, earning a giggle. After a moment of warm silence, Gilly broke away from Arya before throwing on a jacket and gathering her keys, wallet, and phone, tossing them into her purse.

“Where are you going?” The younger asked as she fell down on her bed, propping herself up with her elbows.

“I’m going over to that new burger joint on Main Street to meet my sister, Kristy. She’s in town for the week on business, but she has this night free, so we’re meeting up.” Gilly explained as Arya nodded.

“You gonna tell her the big news?” She asked, grinning as her roommate nodded. “Good luck and godspeed, Gilligan.” Arya said with a two fingered salute, which Gilly immediately returned before slipping out the door with a final “Goodbye!”

As Arya lay on her bed, she checked her phone for messages, hoping to find one from Gendry, yet was disappointed to find none. She furrowed her brows as she tossed her phone back onto the desk, confused as to why he hadn’t messaged her. Maybe the whole Robert connection had wigged him out more than she realized and he just needed time to process it all. Or, perhaps, he had actually decided to firmly stick to maintaining a professional relationship with her until the academic year was up. No, that _definitely_ wasn’t it.

Whatever it was, Arya was not having it. Maybe he needed a bit more than a phone call to ease him out of whatever funk he’d gotten himself into. Maybe she needed to go over to his apartment and drag him out for a late night walk around town, or maybe they could even stay in and discuss The Pit and the Pendulum over shitty Chinese food and a bottle of wine. Against her better judgment (or maybe just in line with it), Arya threw on an oversized, baggy sweatshirt and rummaged through her drawers before finding the large bluish-grey t-shirt that read **Mott’s Auto Shop** across the front. She then tossed it into her leather messenger bag before heading out of the dorm and into the city, headed towards Gendry Waters’ apartment.

+

Gendry shouldn’t have been drinking. He was sad, angry, and hurt. He knew that he shouldn’t have drowned his sorrows in alcohol. He’d stopped after five drinks, a voice in his head reminding him that alcoholism runs in his genes. That little voice in his head was Arya’s, however, and that made him want to keep drinking. But he didn’t.

He considered turning to Poe. He did write a damn fine melancholic poem that would satiate Gendry’s deep rooted need to consume anything depressing, yet Arya was the one who had introduced him to Poe, so that was out of the question.

Eventually, Gendry settled on mind numbing sitcom television to distract him from his heartache. He managed to heat himself a chicken patty and put it between a hamburger bun with some ketchup. There you go, Gendry! The very first baby step to eating food like a real person had been taken.

As he sat in front of the tv, his face expressionless as the canned laughter on an episode of Friends seemed to ring true to the dull depression taking over his mind, he heard someone buzz his apartment. Probably the mailman. He ignored it. When it happened a second time, the guest used the intercom.

“Gendry, it’s A! Lemme up, I wanna get shitfaced with this terrible cheap wine I just bought and talk about The Pit and the Pendulum!” Of fucking course the one person that Gendry was an absolute wreck over was outside his fucking building _asking to come up_ as if she hadn’t just fucked another man on the train ride that _he’d_ arranged for her to be on. Gendry was starting to get angry now. He wanted answers. He didn’t respond over the intercom, but merely buzzed her in. A minute later, there was a knock at his door. He opened it, his bitterness and scorn beginning to bubble up inside of his soul.

“What are you doing here?” He asked shortly. She seemed to not notice his attitude right off the bat, smiling sweetly as she stepped into his apartment, him closing the door behind her, cursing her every cheery step.

“Well, we didn’t get to talk about today’s Poe on the train, so I figured I’d come over and we can do it face to face the way we would have if we hadn’t been interrupted.” She offered, setting down her purse on his tiny kitchen table and producing the shitty bottle of cheap wine she’d promised. Gendry furrowed his brows together in a mocking sort of anger.

“And by interrupted you mean when you left to fuck Mycah in the private car?” Gendry said, barely able to contain his fuming anger. At this, Arya seemed shocked.

“What? Gendry, is that what you think happened in the private car?” She asked. She was a good actress. She sounded genuinely perplexed.

“Oh, don’t start playing dumb with me, Arya, I’ve been on enough fucking train rides to know what happens in those private cars when some cocky passenger has the code and a willing slut.” As soon as the word _slut_ had escaped his mouth, he’d regretted it, even before he saw the hurt in Arya’s grey eyes, even before he felt the sting of her hand slapping him hard across the face. But a darker part of him, a part of him that was twisted, sadistic, and cruel actually _enjoyed_ it. She’d hurt him, it was only right that he hurt her back. Maybe when he was sober he’d voice his regret.

“You arrogant fucking bastard! Do you wanna know what I did with Mycah in that car? I was helping him write a _coming out speech._ ” She hissed. Gendry’s face must have given away how instantly fucking stupid he felt, because she seemed to use his expression as a fuel. “Yeah. Mycah’s gay. The roommate situation he was referring to was the fact that he and his partner have been living together for two years and certain members of his rather conservative family have begun to raise their eyebrows. Mycah turned to an old friend, so if helping him out makes me a _willing slut_ , then I’d gladly spread my legs time and again!” Arya was shouting now, shoving him against the chest with force to punctuate the final sentence.

“Arya, I’m—“ He began to apologize, but she wasn’t finished.

“You know, even if we _had_ fucked, it’s none of your goddamn business!” She snarled. This changed his mood in an instant.

“Not my business? It’s none of my business if you’re fucking other people? I think it would be very much my goddamn business!” He bellowed, the hurt and anger from before seeping back in. She laughed at him, a cruel and joyless laugh.

“I’m not your fucking girlfriend, Gendry! We’re not in a fucking relationship!” As she shouted, her words cut deeper into his heart than a knife. Hearing her openly declare this was hard enough by itself, but added to the rest of it all, it was too much.

“So what’s all this been, Arya? This is so much more than a couple of fucking shirts and you know it.” He countered. She glared at him with a bitterness and hurt that hit him like a punch in the gut.

“No, I think it’s just been about the shirts this whole fucking time. So here, just take yours back and we’ll be done with it!” Gendry watched with an almost horror as she pulled his Mott’s t-shirt out of her purse and threw it at him with all her might. They stood there silently for a moment, seething, anger bubbling hot between them before Gendry turned on his heel and marched into his room, grabbing the red silk top off of its hanger in the closet. When he came back into the living room, Arya was still standing there, arms crossed over her chest, fuming. His eyes seemed to challenge her and beg her all at once.

“Is this all I am to you?” He asked, holding up her shirt. She was silent for only a split second before snatching the shirt out of his hands.

“I guess so.” She snapped, her voice low and threatening to break with a sob. He wanted to take it all back in that moment, he never wanted to see her cry, he never wanted to fuck up as badly as he just had, _fuck._ Before he knew it, she had turned on her heel and slammed the door behind him. Gendry dropped the Mott’s shirt and slid down the wall, tears falling freely down his face. How the fuck was he going to face her in class tomorrow?

+

Arya had nearly forgotten that it was a hybrid of a Sunday night and Monday morning until she saw the football reruns playing in the window of a sports bar. She had embarrassingly left her purse on Gendry’s kitchen table, but she was too proud to go back and get it. She didn’t need it anyways. Not for this.

As she made her way through the decrepit streets of Oldtown, Arya began to shed her skin so as to don that of The Cat passing by crackhouses, ghostly laundromats, and abandoned buildings galore until she made it to the former theater, the House of Black and White. The Mountain stood by the entrance, ever vigilant in his guarding of this most exclusive club.

“Valar Morghulis.” She whispered. He nodded in respect as he let her pass.

“Valar Dohaeris.” The Cat would be up against The Waif again. It had been sent out in the email chain by The Kindly Man.

As the two Faceless Men faced one another on the rounded stage, they silently agreed on twin daggers as weapons. When they began, The Cat wasted no time in dodging every feral attack of The Waif whose brown eyes held a certain bloodlust in them that night. For every slash, The Cat would dodge, the two of them dancing around the platform as their comrades watched on. When The Waif had managed to knock both of her opponents blades out of her hands, she had smiled, and in her moment's hesitation in a premature celebration of victory, The Cat took The Waif’s own blade and used it to slash a neat little cut on her opposite arm. When The Kindly Man acknowledged The Cat as the rightful winner, The Waif had stormed off in a fit of anger, pushing people aside. It didn’t matter. At least Arya had gotten one victory for the rotten evening.

She was outside, counting her winnings when she spotted the woman known to her only as The Waif.

“How does it feel to pocket stolen goods, you fucking bitch?” The blonde was standing in the middle of the sidewalk several yards ahead, blocking her way. Arya rolled her eyes, far too emotionally drained to deal with a scorned sparring rival.

“Doesn’t it ruin the sanctity of this whole function if we talk outside of the meeting?” She muttered, utterly disinterested in whatever petty words of vengeance this woman had planned, intentionally bumping her shoulder as she passed.

“That match was mine, you cunt!” The woman snarled, grabbing Arya by a fistful of hair.

The following events seemed to happen in slow motion.

Arya shrieked as the woman revealed one of the twin daggers used in the match, and yet couldn’t even muster a whisper for the pain left when the woman stabbed the blade into the side of her belly. Arya couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She only felt the paralyzing grip of fear as the deranged woman stabbed her three more times. Only when she’d yanked the dagger out of Arya’s flesh for the fourth time did she finally slam her head backwards as hard as she could, feeling the impact of the collision against the other woman’s skull. She felt that joining of bone on bone for an eternity.

Then she ran.

The street lamps were getting dim. Arya never remembered them being so dim.

She was cold. It may have been January, but wasn’t The Reach supposed to stay warm year round? Why was it so cold?

Arya was trying with all her might to run. She couldn’t bring herself to turn and look behind her for fear of seeing The Waif once more. She was limping now. Staggering.

By the time she had reached Gendry’s apartment building, she was certain that she’d bled more than half her body’s supply. Her clothes were all drenched in red.

Drawing on fear and fear alone, Arya mustered the last of her strength to press the intercom buzzer to apartment 3F.

“Gendry,” She rasped into the intercom. _Please, please don’t let me die._

After a moment that most certainly lasted a year had passed, Gendry’s voice came over the intercom.

“Arya, it’s three in the morning, I’ll bring your things to class tomorrow. Just go home.” He groaned, voice raspy from sleep and sobbing.

“Gendry, I’m bleeding.” She said, struggling to breathe in staggering gasps.

“What?” He asked. He was confused. He was concerned. “Arya? Are you okay?”

She had no more voice. She had no more breath left in her lungs to answer. She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks as she realized that he couldn’t see her.

The world was growing blurry. It was all just light. It was all just dark. She couldn’t tell the difference anymore. Suddenly, an angel stood in front of her. The angel was terrified.

The angel caught her as her knees gave out beneath her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay.  
> So.  
> Arya got stibbidy stabbidy’d!!!  
> Also big shoutout to Gendry for not losing his cool amirite ladies!  
> Very excited for the next chapter, coming in ~ two weeks. Thank you all so much for reading!!! I adore you!!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gendry remembers his lessons, Arya is uncertain and scared, somebody gets their clothes stolen, and the police begin their interviews

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So, it’s a bit sooner than two weeks as I had previously said, but y’all deserve an early chapter for once lmao. So here she is! Again, shoutout to my girl Kaitlynn, @youwouldbemylady for hyping me up and cheering me on. Also check out my tumblr for a Maybe We Just Don’t Talk About It vine comp;) (my url is @thestarkbitch) Anyways, enjoy!  
> OH also I am most certainly NOT a medical professional— The extent of this comes from inference and what I learned over a four day Wilderness First Aid (WFA) certification course before I went out on my NOLS semester (when I went off the grid for 80 days). So pls don’t make fun of me for all the inaccuracies! And also definitely don’t take this as legitimate knowledge for future use— I have no idea what the fuck I’m talking about lmao

_**Step one:** _ **I am number one. __**_Think of yourself first— Are you in a position to give adequate care? Are you uninjured? Are you sober? Think of this before adding yourself into the mix._

_**Step two:** _ **What happened to you? __**_Look around the area— is it safe to approach? Could you become injured while attempting to give patient care? Think of this before adding yourself into the mix._

_**Step three:** _ **Don’t get any on me. __**_Remember to never approach a patient without first putting on your medical gloves. Could you be unwittingly carrying disease on your hands? Think of this before adding yourself into the mix._

_**Step four:** _ **Are there any more? __**_Look around the area to ensure that there are no more injured patients. Could you be unwittingly responsible for the wellbeing of more patients out of your initial line of vision? Think of this before adding yourself into the mix._

_**Step five:** _ **Dead or revive? __**_Does this patient need CPR resuscitation? Can this patient be resuscitated? Think of this before adding yourself into the mix._

The five step scene size up for off-duty and/or back-country medical responders had been pounded into Gendry’s memory through his year of EMT training as a high schooler and four years of working as an EMT for the Citadel Central Hospital in his undergrad years. Before approaching any informal medical scenario, he went down the checklist in his head, at this point entirely by reflex. Safety and caution were the heart and soul of emergency medical response, and you could only give truly helpful care if you yourself were well.

But when Gendry opened the front door of his apartment building to find Arya Stark pale as a ghost, sweating, and practically gushing blood from what looked like a series of stab wounds to her abdomen, looking up at him with complete and utter fear shining in her glassy grey eyes, those five steps went out the window.

She seemed to open her mouth to speak, but no words came out as her knees buckled beneath her. Gendry had been frozen for what felt like hours yet was likely only a few seconds, feeling utterly useless and paralyzed. But all it took to snap him out of it was seeing Arya begin to collapse. Instantly, he caught her in his arms before scooping her up wedding style and carrying her into the building. He had to get her on a flat surface somewhere. It would likely take longer for his first floor neighbors to wake, stumble over to the door, and unlock it than it would for him to simply take her straight up the three floors to his own apartment. He needed to get her on a flat surface as fast as possible, he needed to call 911, he needed to assess the extent of the damage, and a million other things in the span of about three minutes.

She was losing blood fast.

+

_The EMT certification class was only offered at the King’s Landing Public Schools Career Center. When he was a senior in high school, Gendry had become interested in taking the EMT course after a counselor recommended he take it._

_“You like to help people, Gendry. You’re also not squeamish. This is one of the very best ways to combine those virtues and put them to good use.” She had said, checking off the class on a course scheduling form. So every morning for five days a week, Gendry got on the school bus and drove ten minutes from Iron Row High School to the KLPS Career Center to spend an hour training to become an EMT._

_“Okay kiddos, today we will be covering stab and puncture wounds.” Dr. Yoren Watchman said, clicking a small remote and starting the power point. A chorus of gasps, whistles, and discomforted mumblings filled the room, yet Gendry stayed quiet. Of course, he didn’t_ enjoy _looking at the image of a woman with half a knife buried in her gut, but he wouldn’t voice his discomfort._

_“Sweet Jesus, Gendry, why did I let you convince me to take this class?” His girlfriend Bella asked under her breath, shuddering as she wrapped her hands around the crook of his arm._

_“Shhh, he’s talking.” He whispered back, listening intently as Yoren began his lecture._

_“Alright kiddos. Let’s say you arrive to the scene and you find a person much like this lovely young lady pictured with a knife in their belly. What do you do with the knife?” A flurry of hands went up, including his friend Anguy’s, who was called upon by their instructor._

__You leave the knife in to prevent blood loss and to eliminate any potential to cause further internal damage. _Gendry thought to himself a moment before Anguy got it wrong._

_“You take the knife out so you can access the wound.” Anguy said with far too much confidence. Yoren shook his head._

_“Incorrect! Anyone else?” Gendry raised the arm that wasn’t being occupied by Bella. “Alright Gendry, give us your answer.”_

_“You leave the knife in so as to prevent blood loss and to eliminate any potential to cause further internal damage.” He said, earning a single clap and nod of approval from Yoren._

_“Exactly right! This is perhaps the most important part in ensuring your patient’s chances at survival. Everybody, repeat after me: Do not take the weapon out of the wound!” The class repeated it back to the instructor in monotone unison before he continued to emphasize the importance of this._

_“We are emergency first responders, not surgeons. The folks in scrubs over at the hospital will take care of fixing all that. You job as an EMT is to keep the patient alive and stable until you hand them over to the doctors.” At this, Bella raised her hand._

_“Yes, Miss Rivers?” Yoren said, giving her permission to speak._

_“What would we do if the patient has already taken the weapon out themselves? Or if perhaps they were attacked and the weapon was yanked right out of them?” A number of students murmured their agreements, as if they also shared that same question. Yoren rubbed the scruff on his jaw before answering._

_“In that event, you expose the wound and assess. Is there anything in the wound that can be removed with tweezers or forceps? Be sure if you’re removing anything that you do it with the utmost care and caution. Once any foreign objects have been removed, quickly, and I mean_ quickly _, clean the outside of the wound with a sterile alcohol towelette and then get to packing that wound with fresh gauze as fast as humanly possible. If no gauze is available, obviously apply pressure to stop the bleeding with the cleanest cloth available to you. Once you’ve packed the wound, then you apply pressure. Because the weapon was removed, your patient has likely lost a fair amount of blood. Once you’ve been stabbed, that knife is ironically enough the number one thing keeping you alive. It’s acting as a stopper in there. If it’s been removed, your top priority is to replace it with gauze to control your patient’s bleeding.”_

+

Gendry slammed an elevator button going _up_ and thanked his lucky stars when the elevator doors opened straight away with a _ding!_. As he pressed the third floor button, immediately followed by the door close button, he returned his hand to Arya’s stab wounds as Dr. Watchman’s voice rang in his mind.

_Always remember the ABC’s. Airway, Breathing, Circulation. Does your patient have anything constricting their airway or in their mouth? If they do, remove it as quickly as possible. A piece of gum could choke them. Are they able to breathe easily? If not, get them an air mask or an inhaler. Is there significant bleeding anywhere on your patient’s body? If so, make that your top priority._

“Arya do you have anything in your mouth, maybe a piece of gum?” She shook her head weakly, eyes still wild and faded with fear. “Great, can you to take a deep breath for me?” Arya took a shaky, staggered breath. “Any pain in doing that?” Arya shook her head once more. And as for the blood, it was coming out of her side a bit less since he was pressing the blood soaked cloth of her shirt against the wounds.

“Okay, Arya, I’ve bunched up your shirt here and applied pressure to your wounds to control the bleeding. You’ve lost a fair amount of blood so far, but you won’t be losing much more, not on my watch.” He said calmly, trying hard to not break down when he saw the tears welling up in her eyes as she nodded, her face so full of fear, her breathing ragged and labored.

How had it been that just 24 hours ago he had held her like this in an entirely different elevator and everything had been fine?

The elevator halted and the doors opened onto his floor. Gendry practically sprinted over to his apartment and pushed open the door he had left ajar from when he went down. He gently lay Arya down on the couch on her good side, using gravity to prevent further blood loss for the time being. Once she was secure, Gendry ran into his bedroom, dug through his closet before grabbing out his EMT bag and running back into the living room, flipping on his overhead living room light as he did so.

His first priority was to pack the wound. To do that, he had to expose the injury, clean the outside, and assess the damage before he could stuff her with gauze.

“Okay Arya, I’m taking my medical scissors and I’m cutting open your shirt along the side here. I’m doing this so I can expose your wound and dress it properly, got it?” He met her gaze and she nodded slowly, tears and sweat still wetting her face. Then, taking the scissors, Gendry quickly cut the blood soaked fabric of her shirt open from the hem all the way through the sleeve to better view the injury. Quickly, he tore open an alcohol towelette with his teeth and wiped the surface of her injured side down. He counted four stab wounds. They weren’t neat, which was bad. The wounds were about one centimeter lengthwise, about an inch and a half widthwise, and about two inches in depth. The angle told him that her attacker hadn’t been very clearheaded, they hadn’t planned to do this ahead of time. Arya was likely a sorry victim of circumstance, a mugging gone wrong. And he had sent her out of his apartment and straight into her attacker’s hands. _Fuck._

The grad student grabbed the fresh gauze, ready to pack the wound, but hesitated. He then laid a hand on Arya’s cheek and brought her eyes to meet his.

“This will likely hurt. But I need to pack this gauze into your wounds to stop the bleeding, okay?” He told her, hoping to appear strong. She nodded with a shaking sob that nearly broke his heart.

He layered three squares of gauze together, three by three inches in length, and folded them in half before inserting the first one carefully into a stab wound. She gasped with pain, but he ignored it, knowing that if he hesitated to comfort her, he could lose precious time to save her.

Once the wounds were well packed, he grabbed an ace bandage out of his bag and wrapped it around her lower torso tightly, allowing it to provide pressure for the wounds.

+

_Towards the beginning of the school year, Dr. Watchman had his students do role play medical scenarios with one another to practice for real scenarios after the lecture. On that given morning, Gendry and six other students waited out in the hall while their instructor briefed each of their partners on what had happened to them for their scenarios. The morning’s lecture had been delivered to them via educational video filmed sometime in the god awful eighties, if the host’s perm was any indicator of the times._

_“When taking your patient’s vitals, you will need to check the status of their flesh and record observations in color, temperature, and wetness. For example, the inside of a healthy patient’s lower lip will be pink. This is the case regardless of skin color. A healthy patient will also have warm and dry skin. You can log this as ‘Pink, warm, and dry’ after touching your patient’s cheek or neck. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the inside of an unwell patient’s lower lip will be a pale grayish color. This, as with healthy patients, is the case regardless of skin color. An unwell patient will have skin that is cold and sweaty. You can log this as ‘Pale, cold, and wet’.” The video was as boring as it was long, so the student didn’t question it when his classmates began to get antsy simply waiting out in the hall._

_“Jesus christ, Yoren’s been in there for at least fifteen minutes. What kind of theatrical mess is he preparing for us?” Joy Hill said with a groan. To that, Gendry gave a quiet chuckle._

_“Maybe he’ll give us a scene from Shakespeare. Alright kiddos, Macbeth has just failed to commit a murder most foul, yet he’s left his victims injured nonetheless. You may only ask questions in iambic pentameter.” The other students laughed at Gendry’s impression of their instructor before the door swung open._

_“Alright kiddos. You’ve just arrived to the scene and it appears that there’s been a bicycle crash slash mugging. Go to your patients.” Yoren said, prompting the students to all shuffle in. Gendry walked over to Bella who was sitting on the floor with straight legs and a slumped back._

_“Hey there, my name’s Gendry, I’m an EMT, would you mind if I helped you out?” He asked, knowing full well that Yoren was observing them all._

_“Actually, I would mind very much. In fact, I think you should get fucked.” She said, grinning at her own joke._

_“This is for a grade, Miss Rivers.” Dr. Watchman reminded, looking at her with disapproval. She rolled her eyes before turning back to her boyfriend._

_“Yes, Gendry, I would appreciate if you’d help me. My name is Carmen San Diego and I need medical attention.” She said sarcastically, earning her a chuckle from Gendry. The first step after the initial scene size up was the ABC’s, then onto the head to toe check, then vitals, and a SAMPLE history._

_“Okay, Ms. San Diego, do you have anything in your mouth?” He asked, trying hard and failing to take the exercise seriously as his girlfriend spit her gum into his hand. “Great, can you take a deep breath for me? Good, any pain?” She shook her head. “Alright, now I’m going to do a quick blood sweep and make sure that there’s no bleeding anywhere.” He said the words as he went through the motions of jamming his hands underneath her legs._

_“When you’re done fondling me, I’m actually bleeding profusely from a knife wound to the gut.” Bella teased earning her a playful glare from her boyfriend._

_“Alright Carmen,” He started._

_“You may call me Mrs. San Diego.” She retorted. Gendry rolled his eyes with a grin at this._

_“Alright,_ Mrs. San Diego _, I’m going to do a quick head to toe. You tell me if you feel any pain, alright?” As Gendry pressed against Bella’s forehead, she pretended to cry out in pain, which actually came out as a monotone “Ow that hurt sir!” After completing the head to toe, Gendry determined that she had likely been stabbed in a mugging gone wrong, prompting him to apply fake pressure and packing fake wounds with gauze before moving onto taking her vitals. He counted a pulse of 36 beats in 30 seconds, a number which she prompted him to add fifteen to, as she had been instructed to do by Yoren. He then counted twelve breaths in another 30 seconds, to which she told him that Carmen was actually breathing hard and he should add four to that number. Her skin was marked as pale, cold, and wet, and her main complaint was the stab wound in her belly (as made evident by a yellow sticky note attached to her shirt reading “BLOOD FROM STAB WOUND”). Once he’d completed her vitals, Gendry took her SAMPLE history and reported back to the class who were all grouped up and sharing their experiences._

_That afternoon after school, Bella and Gendry were walking hand in hand toward’s Mott’s auto shop. She always said that she liked to walk him to work, and he was never one to complain about it. He liked spending time with her._

_“Man, I didn’t know just how much stuff could be wrong with a person until starting EMT training. I hope I never have to actually use any of that knowledge.” Bella said with a shiver. Gendry simply shrugged._

_“I dunno, I think it’d actually be a pretty cool job. You’d get a lot of stories for party conversations, that’s for sure.” At this, Bella laughed out loud._

_“No offense Bull, but given how you dealt with Carmen McStabby today, I’d pity the patient who end up with you holding their life in your hands.” Bella teased, but Gendry only rolled his eyes and shrugged._

_“Guess I’ll just have to work at it harder then.” He said this aloud despite the fact that he was really only speaking to himself._

+

Once the ace bandage had been secured, Gendry made sure to start taking her vitals. He had skipped the head to toe before, but after doing a brief head check, he had determined that the dizziness was simply from the blood loss and not from blunt force trauma. Then, pressing record on his voice memos, Gendry pressed two fingers to Arya’s left wrist.

“Okay Arya, I’m taking your vitals right now, got it? You’re doing great.” He counted 43 beats in thirty seconds. Anything above 85 beats per minute for a woman aged 18-25 was, according to the current medical literature, “poor”. In the remaining thirty seconds he counted eight breaths, going for about sixteen breaths per minute.

“Patient’s heart rate is 86 over 60, respiratory rate is 16 over 60.” He said, speaking as clearly and calmly as possible into his phone. Gendry then placed a hand to Arya’s face, finding it cold and sweaty to the touch, after which he pulled down Arya’s lower lip and swallowed nervously. “Patient’s skin is pale, cold, and wet. Time recorded, 3:23 am, Western Standard Time.” Once he had pressed the stop button on the recording, Gendry dialed 911, trying not to notice how much of Arya’s blood was on his screen.

“911, what’s your emergency?” The woman on the other line asked, her voice calm and gentle.

“Earlier this evening, my friend was stabbed in the upper abdomen four times. I’m a certified EMT and have managed to pack the wounds, apply pressure, and control the bleeding, but I believe that she lost a fair amount of blood already.” By some lucky chance of fate, Gendry’s EMT instincts managed to override those of his true self that wanted nothing more than to scream and panic and sob to give a detailed report to the 911 operator.

“Okay sir, do you have your friend with you right now?” The lady asked. Gendry could hear the clicking of a keyboard being typed upon with urgency on the other line.

“I do, she’s lying on the couch right in front of me.” Gendry then proceeded to give the operator his address and apartment number, who quickly assured him that an ambulance was on its way.

“And have you taken your friend’s vitals within the past five minutes?” The operator asked, voice still calm.

“I have. Patient has a heart rate of 86/60, a respiratory rate of 16/60, and patient’s skin is pale, cold, and wet. She’s an 18 year old female, in good physical shape and health prior to the events of tonight. She has a moderate allergy to shellfish and currently does not take any medication, prescription or otherwise. She has had no outstanding chronic illness or injuries. Last time she ate was late this afternoon, last trip to the bathroom around 11:45pm.” His voice nearly cracked when he mentioned the shellfish allergy. He had only learned of the allergy when they had been discussing _Descent Into The Maelstrom_ from Poe, as it starred a fisherman out at the sea with his brother. The operator told him to stay on the line until the ambulance arrived. He retook her vitals every three minutes until he heard and saw the sirens outside of his building. He held her hand as they placed her on the gurney and followed close behind as they walked her down. When he tried to enter the ambulance, one of the medics paced a hand on his chest.

“I’m sorry sir, but we can’t let you ride along. Hospital policy is no more than three medics in the back to attend to the patient.” The young man said. Gendry looked over his shoulder at Arya, her bewildered grey eyes darting around wildly as they began to stick an IV in her hand and put an oxygen mask over her face. She was confused, she was terrified, and she would be surrounded by strangers. The same anger that had sent her out of the apartment earlier that night began to bubble in Gendry’s gut, prompting him to do something he wouldn’t have done in any other situation.

“Three medics, huh? Okay. Can I just run up and grab you her insurance card?” Gendry asked. The medic, whose name tag read _Thomas_ nodded.

“It would likely go faster if I could just grab it and run it back down, but please do show me to your apartment.” Gendry knew this would be his response. He had worked as an EMT for the Citadel Central Hospital during his years as an OU undergrad. This was standard protocol if anyone offered to get something prior to departure, as it could waste precious time if they took a while to find it and consequently retrieve it.

They hurried up the three flights of stairs to Gendry’s apartment. Once Thomas had entered the apartment, Gendry closed the door behind him.

“So the insurance card is in her purse?” He asked as Gendry looked the lad up and down.

“We seem to be about the same height and build, yeah?” He asked. Thomas furrowed his brows in confusion.

“I don’t seem to—“ Thomas was cut off as Gendry landed a sucker punch against the side of his head. Not enough to seriously injure, but enough to dizzy him up long enough for Gendry to take his clothes.

“Sorry, Tommy. But I happen to be an EMT, and that woman in the ambulance happens to be the love of my life. I’m not leaving her side.” Gendry whispered as he removed the medic’s uniform, working fast to put it on his own body. Once Thomas was in nothing but his undershirt and boxers, Gendry grabbed Arya’s purse before hurrying down the stairs and hopping into the ambulance. The other two medics, a woman named Chloe and a man named Mitchell, gave him confused looks with mouths half open.

“Thomas couldn’t make it. Drive.” Chloe, getting over her bewilderment, shook her head and shrugged as if in acceptance as she slapped the wall twice, Gendry knowing fully well that this couldn’t be the craziest thing that she’d seen on the job. The two slaps told the driver to step on it as Mitchell closed the doors behind them.

“We’re only letting you stay because we know from the dispatch that you’re an EMT.” Mitchell said as he grabbed a new plastic bag full of liquid to attach to Arya’s IV tube.

“Thanks, but I don’t really care about the why.” Gendry replied as he attached the tube to the one in Arya’s left hand. “And we should switch this IV real quick. She’s left handed.” Mitchell nodded before hurrying to switch the IV to her right hand. Arya was definitely floating in and out at that point, Gendry could see it on her face with the heaviness of her eyelids, yet he could tell she was fighting it. She was still afraid. He could tell by the way she was clutching his hand, a true white knuckle fire. She was a fighter.

“You’re gonna be okay, Arya. It’s alright to fall asleep, you don’t have to fight it. It’s just the anesthesia beginning to take effect. It’s not— You’re not— You’re okay. The drowsiness is okay.” He couldn’t bring himself to even say the words _you’re not going to die_ because it introduced the word _die_ into a mix where Gendry absolutely did not want any death at all. But at his assurances, Arya’s grip began to relax and she faded out into temporary oblivion.

“You told the dispatcher this was your friend. I could certainly use a _friend_ like you.” Chloe said with arched brows, putting the word “friend” in air quotes. Gendry blushed before looking down.

“Just shut up take her blood pressure, Chloe.” He muttered, earning an astonished laugh from Mitchell, who seemed to still be processing the whole thing of Gendry being there in Thomas’s clothes instead of Thomas.

They arrived in the emergency lane of Citadel Central where a team of nurses and surgeons were waiting, ready to transfer their unconscious patient from the ambulance into the operating room. Gendry had quickly shed the EMT jacket before hopping out of the bus, grateful that the nurse walking and talking with him seemed to not know the intimate details of the EMT staff dispatched to the scene and assumed he was family.

“Okay sir, just follow me. We have a chair set up outside of the operating room, I’ll just need you to stay and answer a few questions, alright?” Gendry nodded at the nurse, a woman of dark skin and tightly coiled hair. As the team of surgeons wheeled her into the OR, Gendry felt something pluck at his heart strings as he realized that for the next several hours, he’d likely end up knowing nothing about her condition. The nurse sat him down before hurrying over to the counter just opposite him and opened a log on her computer.

“Alright, so from what I understand from the dispatch, you found this young lady and gave her ongoing patient care until the ambulance arrived, is that correct?” She asked, and Gendry nodded. “You mentioned to the dispatch operator that this patient is your friend. Can you tell us her name and that of her next of kin?” Gendry nodded again.

“Her name is Arya Stark, she’s a student at Oldtown University along with her older sister, Sansa Stark. I don’t have her number, but I’m sure that it’s in the university’s records.” When Gendry said the name _Stark_ , the nurse furrowed her brows.

“Would Arya happen to have an older brother in the area as well? A Robb Stark?” At this, Gendry nodded his head.

“Yeah, actually, I believe she does. He’s a twin, but her other older brother lives up North, if I recall correctly.” The nurse’s eyes went wide as she typed something rapidly into her computer before turning to dial a number on the wall phone, looking concerned as the phone ringed.

“Dr. Maegyr? Hi, this Natalie, from the night shift. No, no, nothing new or scary to report about your baby. Yes, I understand that you’re off duty right now— Yes, I know, but this isn’t a work related matter, this is a matter of contacting the next of kin. No, doctor, it’s not that I need contact information from you. It’s your sister-in-law, Arya. She’s just been brought in and is currently in the OR after suffering a series of stab wounds to her upper abdomen. Of course. She’s in OR B1. I’ll see you soon.” Natalie hung up the phone before turning back to Gendry, forgetting her place for a moment as she was struck by the nature of the situation.

“Dr. Talisa Maegyr’s sister-in-law was just stabbed, and she’s in there getting operated on.” She muttered before Gendry moved, the motion seeming to remind her that she was in fact a nurse and not a gossiping schoolgirl.

“Right, so I see here that you gave four sets of vitals to our dispatch operator. Would you be able to confirm the accuracies of these against your notes as I read them out to you?” Gendry nodded, pulling out his phone and listened quietly to his voice recordings, all of them aligning perfectly with Natalie rattling off the data listed on her screen.

“Great. And would that bag be yours or is it belonging to Ms. Stark?” She asked, pointing to Arya’s bag on the floor next to Gendry’s feet.

“It’s Arya’s. I grabbed it on my way out just so she wouldn’t have to worry about finding her phone or anything when she wakes up.” Gendry said, noting how Natalie bit her tongue, as if she wanted to correct him. _If_ she wakes up. That’s what she wanted to say, what she wanted to remind him of, yet had decided that the reality check simply wasn’t worth it. She grabbed the bag silently and stowed it behind the counter, working quickly to tag and log the item.

They didn’t speak for several minutes after that silent recognition of the uncertainty of Arya’s fate. She was in there getting stitched up and poked and prodded and pumped full of blood, and he couldn’t know anything about it. That was his punishment. His punishment for doubting her, for mistrusting her, for hurting her. He was the true criminal in this case. He might as well turn himself in to the authorities while he waited. At least then he’d have something to do instead of simply watch the minute hand on the clock inch ever so slowly by on the calming light blue walls and listen to the ever present clickity-clackiting of Natalie’s fingers against the keyboard of the hospital desktop computer.

His silent torture was interrupted when a pregnant woman with olive skin and dark hair marched into the hall with a tall, red haired man with a beard, both of them in cotton t-shirts, sweatpants, and hasty overcoats.

“Dr. Maegyr, Mr. Stark,” Natalie said, stepping out from behind the counter to greet them. The woman who could only be Talisa shook Natalie’s hand, her dark eyes constantly darting to the closed door of the operating room.

“She’s in there?” The man who Gendry presumed to be Robb, asked. Natalie nodded her head.

“Who’s leading the surgery? Who’s helping them? Who are the nurses in there?” Talisa demanded as Natalie hastily shook the hand of an incredibly distracted Robb Stark.

“Dr. Eleanore Chu is leading, with Doctors Marcus Jax, Sierra Roberts, and Elena Diaz on her team. The nurses assisting are Jean Callas, Elliot Segal, and Zoe Larsson.” The nurse said, rattling off each of the names as if she’d been memorizing them. Talisa nodded, satisfied with the team working on her sister-in-law, before she seemed to noticed Gendry in the chair for the first time.

“I apologize, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Talisa Maegyr-Stark, at least when I’m off duty. Who might you be?” Gendry stood and shook her outstretched hand.

“I’m Gendry Waters, I’m a friend of Arya’s at OU. I’m the one who found her. Or, rather she found me. She rang me at my apartment after the attack.” Talisa nodded her head slowly before returning her arms to be crossed over her chest. When he went to shake Robb’s hand, the redhead seemed to recall something.

“I think Arya’s told me about you before. You’re her anthropology TA, yeah?” _Fuck._

“Yep, that’s me. The teacher.” _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck._ Robb then furrowed his brows as he began to realize something, probably something bad.

“How did she know where your apartment was?” Robb asked. And then Gendry, in one of his finest moments of on the fly falsehoods, shrugged.

“I dunno. I suppose she was around the area and saw _G. Waters_ written on my intercom buzzer outside the building. For all I know, she could’ve ringed dozens of apartments before getting to mine.” Robb nodded at this, accepting it as a thoroughly plausible explanation, thank the fucking lord. Gendry then quickly stepped aside and gestured to the single chair.

“Here, Dr. Maegyr—“ The pregnant woman waved him off.

“Talisa.” She insisted, and Gendry nodded in return.

“Talisa, take the chair. I can only imagine it’s hard enough being on your feet all day as is.” The pregnant doctor gratefully accepted the chair and slowly lowered herself down, a gentle hand resting on the swell of her belly. Once she had sat down, Robb gently nudged Gendry to get his attention before nodding his head over to a more private looking corner, the two men heading over.

“Okay, Gendry, give it to me straight. You were there with her right after she was stabbed. How... How bad is it? Knowing how these surgeries go, we won’t hear any news for hours, and I just gotta know. I can’t hold onto false hope.” Robb had tears welling up in his blue eyes, and for a moment, Gendry could see the resemblance. Arya always said that she and her older brother, Jon, were the only ones in the bunch of six to take after their father’s looks, whereas Robb, Sansa, Bran, and Rick all took after their mother. But that fear, that uncertainty, that vulnerability was the very same he’d seen in Arya’s grey eyes only minutes earlier.

“I’m a certified EMT. I actually worked here as an undergrad. I’ve seen a lot of bad cases go good. I’m not gonna lie to you, Arya lost a lot of blood before I got to her and was able to control the bleeding. The location of the wounds makes me uneasy. The attacker missed her lungs, otherwise she would’ve been coughing up blood. If she got her liver or kidney, I think she’d be certainly roughed up, but mostly in the clear. But if the attacker got her stomach or her large intestine, that’s a different story. One that I wouldn’t— I wouldn’t be so confident telling. But I just don’t know.” Gendry’s voice began to crack as tears threatened to spill from behind his eyes. Robb nodded, tears openly flowing down his cheeks, and in that moment, Gendry let his overly masculine pride go as he began to cry and the two men, despite having only just met, embraced one another as if their lives depended on it.

+

The first hour was the slowest and the most agonizing. Gendry had gone to fetch two more chairs for himself and Robb to sit in, really just so he’d have an excuse to distract himself from staring at that closed door. Talisa would break the silence every now and then by noting how her son was moving or kicking, offering to let Gendry feel as Robb absentmindedly rubbed her belly. Gendry took her up on it once, and was instantly convinced that the process of human procreation was thoroughly and 100% alien.

The second hour gave them news. Dr. Sierra Roberts came out of the room with blood splattered scrubs and asked if any of the present company had type A positive blood. They had run out of their on-hand supply in the operating room. Gendry said he was O negative, so they arranged to have an impromptu partial exsanguination in the next room over. The doctor said that with the blood, Arya could plausibly pull through. Gendry was grateful that he had not donated when he was going to back in December. Before leaving with the blood, Dr. Roberts told the odd threesome that Arya’s attacker had narrowly missed her stomach, and her right kidney, liver, and gallbladder were all paying the price for that miss.

The third hour brought them Sansa. She had woken up early with the intention of joining her friend Ygritte in sunrise yoga, and instead found several messages from her eldest brother informing her that their little sister had been repeatedly stabbed and was being operated upon at Citadel Central Hospital. When she arrived, Sansa hugged Talisa and Robb close, and shook Gendry’s hand tentatively. When Robb asked her how lucky it was that Arya had somehow managed to happen upon Gendry’s apartment after being stabbed, Sansa agreed that it was nothing short of miraculous. But her arched eyebrows and knowing eye contact told Gendry that she knew what was going on. Nevertheless, she did honestly thank him for helping her sister.

The fourth hour gave them distressed phone calls from Mr. and Mrs. Stark who were panicking about the fact that they couldn’t find last minute flights to Oldtown. Gendry offered to arrange a train ride on WesTrak for them with his frequent traveler rewards and discounts. They gladly accepted, and Gendry partially wished that someone there could appreciate the irony.

The fifth hour yielded phone calls to the school, Gendry informing them of a medical emergency for a Ms. Arya Stark and that he would be out for the day, Arya’s sister a Ms. Sansa Stark would be out for the day, and that Arya herself would be out for the foreseeable future. The bewildered receptionist took note of it.

The sixth hour gave the crew of four a series of blankets, snacks, and a deck of cards. They all decided to play a game of Golf, which was nothing like actual golf. 7’s and Jacks are zero, you are dealt four cards, you may only look and two at the beginning, and every turn you either swap a mystery card from the deck, or you take a face up card that someone had traded in. You could also knock on your turn if you thought you had good cards, indicating that it was now the last round. The goal was to get as low a score as possible. Sansa won three rounds, Gendry four, Talisa three, and Robb only one. Their game was interrupted when Dr. Eleanore Chu opened the door to the OR, prompting them all to stand and wait expectantly for news. The doctor removed her faux-latex gloves and pulled the mask down from over her face.

“It was touch and go there for a while, but she made it through the witching hour, and she’s going to be alright.” A series of laughs, sighs of relief, and cheers escaped the mouths of the four as they hugged and high-fived and wiped away tears of joy and relief.

“When can we see her?” Robb asked excitedly.

“We’ll be moving her into Post-Op shortly, but she’s still unconscious and likely will be for the next hour or so. We have her on some serious painkillers, so even when she is awake, she might not be all the way there. I’m also going to say only two visitors at a time. The last thing we need is for her to get overstimulated. She may have made it through the worst of it, but she’s still quite delicate. I would recommend that you lot find somewhere to get some rest. The worst is over.” The four of them all bleary eyed and tired, thanked Dr. Chu and her team before splitting off, Talisa with Robb, Sansa and Gendry on their own. As Gendry began to wander down the hallway, Eleanore got his attention by jogging after him.

“Hey, Gendry Waters, right?” He nodded his head as he turned to face the surgeon.

“Yeah, what do you need?” He asked, hands in his pockets.

“On behalf of Miss Stark, I wanted to thank you for your quick and diligent work in taking care of her injuries. If she’d gone two minutes longer without care, she would’ve bled out. You saved a life today, Mr. Waters.” Dr. Chu smiled at him, and he smiled back in return. He mumbled a thank you before saying goodbye and turning to leave, hoping to hop on the next bus back home, draw all the curtains in his apartment, and finally get some goddamn sleep.

But alas, Gendry’s plans were foiled when he heard an unfamiliar and gruff voice call out his name.

“Gendry Waters?”

“That’s me.” He said, turning to the source of the voice. Two of the tallest people he had ever seen, a man with a horribly scarred face and a statuesque blonde woman in a pantsuit, approached him as they flashed police badges.

“I’m Detective Brienne O’Tarth, and this is my partner, Detective Sandor Clegane with the Oldtown violent crimes unit. We just want to ask you some questions about Arya Stark.” Jesus fucking Christ.

+

When Arya first woke up, she had no idea where she was or what had happened since she had closed her eyes. The last thing she remembered was Gendry in an EMT uniform in the back of an ambulance smiling kindly and telling her that it was safe to let go and fall asleep. But she had seen the tears within that smile. Nevertheless, she trusted him, so she stopped fighting the urge to slip away.

“Gendry?” That was the first word she was able to croak when she woke up. Instead of Gendry, however, the stabbing victim found her sister sitting by her bedside, smiling brightly at her and holding her hand. Sansa had bags under her eyes as if she’d been up for a while.

“Hey honey! It’s just me, it’s Sansa. Do you want some water?” Arya later found out that Sansa had been encouraged by the nurses who periodically came in to check on her to offer Arya water and to make sure she drink it slowly. She was more than happy to comply, what with her throat feeling like a desert.

“Hey Sansa. Is this the hospital?” She asked, attempting to sit up, yet was discouraged from doing so, her redheaded sister offering the mattress remote an alternative to the physical exertion of sitting oneself up on a bed.

“It is the hospital. Do you remember what happened?” Sansa asked as Arya finished the plastic cup of room temperature water.

“I... I was stabbed by The Waif. ‘N then Gendry cut open my shirt ‘n put cloth in my stabs, ‘nnnn then he was in the bambalance and it’s ekkay for me to sleep.” She was drifting back out again, but before she did, she noticed her sister writing _Stabbed by the waif = homeless person???_ hurriedly on a napkin.

When she came to the second time, Talisa and Robb were in the room. She smiled at Talisa and rubbed her belly.

“He’s a goooood boy. He’s gonna be cute.” That was all she managed before she slipped back out.

The third time, it was her parents in the room with her. When her eyes fluttered open, her mother and father were beaming at her brighter than she’d ever seen before.

“Hello my angel! How are you feeling?” Her mother asked gently, her voice soft and soothing, her father’s calloused hands a welcome comfort as they smoothed her dark locks of hair away from her forehead so he could place a gentle kiss against her temple.

“I’m fine. I got stabbed. I also got an A on my anthropology final for the first semester!” Arya was smiling at her parents, so excited about the grade that she momentarily forgotten she’d mentioned it to them already two weeks prior, wishing she could muster more energy to speak properly and not just be mumbling.

“That you did, my love, that you did.” Her father said with a laugh.

“Can we get you anything? Any yogurt, jello, maybe some pudding, or some tea?” Her mother asked. Arya shook her head, but then decided better on it and nodded.

“Gimme tha choc-a-la pudding.” Her words were slurring again as her mother retrieved a cup of chocolate pudding from the mini fridge. She managed to down three spoonfuls before drifting back to sleep.

The fourth time, her parents were standing nervously in the corner of the room, attempting to cover it up with smiles and small waves when they saw that she’d awaken, but Arya knew better. Her head was inexplicably clearer now. There was an incredibly tall stranger in a pantsuit standing at the foot of her bed, holding a black leather notepad and had a police badge out on display on her belt. She quickly stowed her notepad when she noticed Arya had awaken.

“Mr. and Mrs. Stark, I’m going to have to ask you to leave the room now. I’ll need to question her alone, thank you.” The blonde lady said quietly to Arya’s parents who nodded before giving final smiles to their daughter before leaving the room and shutting the door.

“Hello Arya. I’m Detective O’Tarth, but you can call me Brienne, if you’d like.” Arya nodded.

“Hello Brienne.” The woman smiled, and Arya returned it, sitting up in her bed via usage of the incline remote.

“I’m just gonna ask you a few questions about last night, is that alright with you?” She asked, her voice calm and gentle. Arya nodded. “Great. Arya, do you remember what happened to you?” Arya nodded her head.

“I was stabbed and then I went to Gendry’s apartment because it was nearby and I didn’t have my phone and then I went to the hospital in an ambulance.” Brienne nodded, scribbling down a couple of quick notes in her notepad before looking back up at her.

“Arya did you see your attacker at all? Maybe he said something, or you can remember a smell, anything you can remember?” Arya nodded.

“I know her. The woman who stabbed me.” Brienne’s brows arched up as she began to write down some more notes.

“Oh, well that’s— that’s helpful. Can you tell me her name?” The tall detective asked hopefully. Arya shook her head.

“Not her real name, anyways. I only know her as The Waif. It’s her title, her Faceless title.” Brienne furrowed her brows and cocked her head in confusion.

“Her Faceless title, what’s a Faceless title? Is that some sort of sorority ritual?” Arya shook her head.

“No, a while back— sometime in August, shortly after I moved in at OU— I was at the gym and when I went to my locker, I found a note in there with an email username and password. That was my invite, my in to the Oldtown chapter of the Order of the Faceless Men. We’d meet on Sunday nights past midnight, so technically Monday mornings, at this crumbled down theater, The House of Black and White. Everyone has a title relating to their physical strengths, bodies, or tendencies. Mine was The Cat because I’m small, quick, and light on my feet. Our Bouncer is called The Mountain. There’s a guy with a scar on his neck called The Soldier, and so on and so forth. Nobody knows anyone’s real name. We don’t ever speak or interact outside of the meetings. But every Saturday, we get an email with the pairings for that week, who’ll be fighting who. It’s essentially a fight club with weapons. You place your bets in cash on site, and two thirds of your money goes to the winners pool and is divided amongst the people who bet on the right player, and the remaining third is given to the winner of the match. If you’ve been selected to fight, you don’t have to stay past your own match. The rules are that you have to stop if someone has drawn blood, someone has fallen unconscious, or someone has fallen off the stage. The first person to bleed, faint, or fall is the loser. Last night, I was up against The Waif. I beat her the last time we were up against one another, and I beat her last night as well. I was walking home when she said something along the lines of accusing me of stealing money she claimed was rightfully hers. I just brushed her off, but she had a knife. She grabbed me by the hair and stabbed me four times before I gave her a head-butt and ran off. I don’t know how long I’d been walking for when I reached Gendry’s apartment. I knew that he was an EMT, but mainly I just needed anyone I could get to help me, and so I told him I was hurt over the intercom and then he came down and got me.” As Arya finished explaining, Brienne continued to scribble her notes down for several moments afterwards. When she put her pen down, she looked back up to Arya.

“From what I understand, you had been to Gendry’s apartment earlier that night, correct? The street camera footage we collected showed you entering and then consequently leaving a few hours before you staggered back. You looked as though you were crying in the footage. Are you sure that none of this had anything to do with that? Because I’ve seen plenty of cases where young women like yourself go and do rash things when they’ve just had a fight with their boyfriend. So, are you sure that what you just told me was entirely accurate?” Arya blushed beet red at this. Brienne leaned in a bit closer. “If you’re worried about Gendry finding out anything, know that this conversation is confidential.” Arya shook her head.

“No, no, it’s nothing like that. Everything I just told you was true. But I was at Gendry’s apartment earlier because... Well, we’ve um. We’ve become somewhat... Over the past few months, things between us have become rather complicated. I just wanted to go over and hang out with him, but then we got in a big spat over what was really just a misunderstanding, so when I left, I decided to just go to the Faceless meeting.” Brienne nodded her head before offering a polite smile.

“Thank you, Arya.” She began writing in her notepad again.

“Would you be able to omit our involvement from any official records? You see, Gendry’s kind of my teacher. Well, he’s the TA in my major, and I don’t want him to get kicked out for this.” Brienne smiled at Arya’s concern.

“Don’t worry, Arya. When we questioned Gendry earlier, we offered discretion and immunity against university expulsion in exchange for information about this fight club with weapons. Your stories match up, so that immunity and discretion will be granted indeed.” Arya visibly relaxed and smiled at Brienne. “Now. Would you have any way of contacting this Waif? And would you be willing to give her description to our sketch artist?”

+

Gendry’s police interview had not gone nearly as smoothly as Arya’s had. Detective Clegane was somehow certain after viewing those street cam tapes that Gendry had gotten some friend of a friend of a friend to attack Arya so she would come running back for him to be the hero. This scrutiny was interrupted when a woman in a neat black suit with smooth black hair pulled back in a neat ponytail marched into the interrogation room and set her briefcase down by the chair next to Gendry.

“My client will not be subjected to this childish and cruel behavior a minute longer, Detective.” Sandor Clegane has nearly growled at this woman as she sat down.

“Vera.” He grumbled.

“Sandy.” She returned, her voice neat and clipped. “I’ll need a moment alone with my client to discuss.” Sandor glared at her one last time before slamming the door to the interrogation room shut behind him.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, who—?” Gendry began to ask, and was cut off by the lady sticking out her hand for him to shake, which he did.

“My name is Vera Levari, and I work with Robb Stark. Consider my representing you his way of thanking you for saving his sister’s life last night. Money is no issue here. This is a favor for a friend. I hope you and I can become friends through this process as well, although I will do my very best to make it short.” Gendry smiled gratefully at his new lawyer.

“Thank you, Vera. I really appreciate it.” Over the next hour, Vera and Gendry managed to get him informational leverage by researching the fight club with weapons Arya had told once him about. As it turned out, The Faceless Men had a huge underground following. There were chapters in almost every major city across Westeros, Essos, Europe, and North America. He would have been impressed, if Arya’s involvement hadn’t gotten her stabbed. They managed to negotiate immunity from university expulsion and discretion regarding the sensitive nature of his and Arya’s affair, and also as a show of good faith given that Gendry had saved her life, in the words of the doctor who had led Arya’s surgery. He was released and taken off of the suspect list late that afternoon when Clegane’s partner was able to confirm his story with Arya. Gendry and his lawyer parted ways outside of the police station before he hopped on the bus, disheveled and tired, barely able to drag his feet up the three flights of stairs to his apartment, where he collapsed on his couch and fell into a deep and instant slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :-)))  
> I was going to write a whole big scene with Gendry getting super flustered during the interviews, but it didn’t end up flowing right with the rest of the scenes, so I just cut it. BUT Gendry has all my motherfucking uwus in this chapter, I hope you enjoyed!! Chapter 10 should be up sometime between Christmas or New Years. Thank you so much for reading!!! Ily:)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Arya recovers in the hospital, Gendry crafts a grand gesture, I intentionally spell Jeyne Westerling as Jane Westerling, and Gendry becomes a viral thirst meme.
> 
> Enjoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christmas came early with this chapter;)  
> Smut towards the end! If that’s not your thing, there’s your warning!  
> I did a weird thing with editing (written on mobile btw) where I like went back every few paragraphs and edited kinda as I went??? There will almost certainly be mistakes, but I hope you enjoy!! This was basically the last chapter😥 There’s still chapter 11, which is the epilogue, but I’m gonna miss this fic so much! I already have a million outtake ideas that I’ll post to the outtake work at some point (Maybe We Just Don’t Outtake About It) bc I love this universe wayyy too much lol. I also have posted the first chapter of the sequel, Maybe I’ll Just Forget About You, so go check that out! Anyways, please enjoy chapter 10!!

The month following the stabbing was... odd, to say the least. Selmy was still out for the first three days of the new semester, day one of which Gendry simply had to cancel class due to a “medical and legal emergency”, as he put it in the email. Very quickly, students across OU heard of the stabbing of Arya Stark and of the heroic fast actions of her major’s TA who, according to local news outlets, had just intended to go out for a smoke when he saw her bleeding on his doorstep in need of medical attention. Many small and local newspapers and magazines boasted of their sources being from inside police ranks. Little did they know, those police insiders had quite intentionally tweaked several details to honor their promise to Gendry to treat his and Arya’s affair with the utmost discretion.

Somewhere in that first week, by the power of the the ever-present trend-crazed chaos of social media, the story of the nearly fatal stabbing went viral, with Gendry soon becoming a widespread internet sensation.

That was the professional way of saying that Gendry became the subject of seemingly the entire internet’s affections as the main figure of a thirst meme known as the “sexy savior”.

He had never been one to fantasize about fame— the idea of living in the public eye where personal boundaries were jokes and private matters were laid bare for all to see was unsettling, to say the least. His emotional state of self was still reeling and healing from the trauma the stabbing had inflicted upon him, and just when he thought that he was beginning to regain a sense of normalcy, he was knocked back down by the sensationalist thirst of the internet and dubbed the #SexySavior.

It all originated when one particularly well-trafficked pop-culture news network ran an article on the story. The woman who wrote the piece had tossed some particularly flattering images of an undergraduate Gendry in his old EMT uniform in the article’s gallery to balance a series of more recent photos that posed him in a more academically themed setting that she had neatly lifted from his various social media accounts. When it came to the actual writing, the author had spent the large majority of the article gassing him up as an utterly hot and humble hero type. One quote that his siblings texted him on numerous occasions was _”If getting stabbed meant I’d be getting handled by this handsome hunk of man, I’d move straight to inner-city London.”_

Once that article was released, the image of the sexy savior began to spread across the internet like wildfire. Everyone from cringeworthy schoolgirl twitter stans to impossibly attractive twenty-something instagram influencers to well respected middle aged news commentators all seemed to have something to say about the #SexySavior. The news commentators did panels on the full length of the story, inviting seasoned surgeons, stab wound specialists, weathered detectives, and the odd psychologist to speak as special guest experts on the so called “Sexy Savior’s” role in saving the poor young woman that night.

The Instagram influencers yielded a wide variety of responses— many incorporated the hashtag into the captions for provocative selfies that had nothing to do with either Gendry or the stabbing at all (many were something along the lines of “waiting on my #sexysavior like👀”), although a great deal more would post the various pictures of him featured in the article (and the several follow up articles from several different news sources) to their stories expressing their self described thirst for the #sexysavior. And a handful of influencers who he could only assume had never been humbled by sexual or romantic rejection had messaged him privately via Instagram DM asking if he wanted to meet up and, in the words of Lysene model Era Lord, “Stab me repeatedly all in my guts with your knife;)”. He gave each overly-confident C-list internet celebrity the same response: “Nope. Thanks for the offer tho.”

But the worst of it had to be the Twitter stans. Those people had absolutely _no_ problem whatsoever writing exactly what sort of sexually deviant acts they wanted to do to him (or have done unto them) and tweeting it out for the world to see. They had no shame, they had no modesty. Gendry found himself wondering if he could be held legally responsible for a 16 year old girl tweeting at him a request to stab her with a rusty shiv and then fuck her stab wounds.  
He deleted his twitter shortly thereafter.

Despite all the unwanted attention the #SexySavior brought to him, it did end up doing some good. Some kind hearted folks on Tumblr had come up with a GoFundMe to pay off the #SexySavior’s student loans— In the end, not enough people donated (and he would have refused the money anyways), but it did manage to get the attention of the president of financial aide at Oldtown University, and he received a scholarship from the school for his heroism. He nearly cried when he saw his educational debts disappear. Arya had texted him when she saw the news, that being their first communication since she had fallen unconscious in the back of the ambulance.

**Arya:** _Hey G, just saw the scholarship news in the Daily Maester— Congrats! You deserve it:)_

He spent about thirty minutes crafting the perfect response.

**Gendry:** _Thanks Arya— I couldn’t have done it without you (literally)_

Days passed by. The fuss of the Sexy Savior all seemed to calm down and new memes and trends took its place, for which Gendry was beyond grateful. First year students in the anthropology major began a rotation of who would bring Arya her work in the hospital where she was now a full time resident in recovery. Every day for five days a week, somebody from the class would hang out with her and catch her up on the day’s lesson for about an hour. They didn’t really need to— Gendry emailed her all of Selmy’s presentations and notes before the class even started every day without fail. It was a small gesture, but it was all he could think to do while he worked on his grand gesture.

Arya’s nineteenth birthday came and passed on the second of February. He thought about passing by the hospital, about giving her the gift early, but it wasn’t ready. Not yet. He did text her, however.

**Gendry:** _Hey A! Happy birthday— Hope it’s a good one (despite the fact that you’re still in the hospital.) I’ll try to come by and see you sometime soon:) Anyways, enjoy the big 19!_

**Arya:** _Thanks G! Please do:-)_

Another week passed. Gendry had crafted somewhere in the ballpark of a thousand different texts to send to Arya, yet every one of those messages failed in their valiant battle efforts to defeat the ruthless and tyrannical delete button.

Somehow, despite the fact that she was living full time in the hospital recovery ward, Arya still had the best grades in the class. Gendry would never cease to be amazed by her. Selmy shared this sentiment of impress by her outstanding performance, and he made this known to his TA one day during office hours. Charlie Dixon had come in to drop off Arya’s latest completed homework assignment and collect the new materials and notes necessary for the next class day, yet that was all the student traffic the anthropologists received that day. The two men were passing the time in a rather productive manner through grading essays.

“Gendry?” The professor asked as his TA lifted his head.

“Yes?” He responded. Selmy dropped the paper he was holding down on the desk in front of him as he leaned back, taking off his reading glasses to punctuate his astonishment.

“How in the hell does a nineteen year old girl, who’s living in the hospital recovering from a nearly fatal stabbing, manage to write a better thesis statement on the role of hyper-masculinity in Dothraki culture than I could? I wrote the damn ethnography they’re using as study material!” Selmy said with a full bellied chuckle. Gendry laughed as he simply shrugged his shoulders.

“Arya’s a very smart and hardworking student. God knows she’s putting all of my sorry excuses to shame.” The elder of the two men chuckled at this, yet he had no idea just how honest his TA was being. Gendry hadn’t gone to see her and it had been nearly a month.

He needed to finish his gift soon.

+

When she was first moved into her suite in the recovery ward, the only person Arya wanted to see was Gendry.

Of course, she was grateful that her parents decided to stay with Robb and Talisa so as to visit her every day, and she certainly enjoyed Jon visiting from the North and bringing Bran and Rickon in tow for the entire week of her birthday, but it simply wasn’t who she craved.

Browsing through the #SexySavior hashtag on Twitter gave her a good deal of laughter to make it through the days without him. She herself had gotten several messages and mentions asking what it was like to be saved by him. One exchange over DM had gone a bit viral after the user @DanyT123 tweeted out the screenshots with the caption, “I said 🤡 #SexySavior”

**DanyT123: Okay but when he caught you and picked you up in that street cam footage😍  
DanyT123: Did that feel like getting swept off your feet? I can only imagine what you’d be thinking, like you’re getting saved by an Adonis!**

**AryaaStarkk: I mean idk I was mainly thinking about fatal amounts of blood I was losing from the four fresh stab wounds, but sure, I guess you could say it felt like I was getting swept off my feet.**

When Arya switched to looking through the #SexySavior hashtag on Instagram, however, she became fairly unsettled. Lots of women were posting about him. Models with legs that stretched for miles. Influencers with barbie doll bodies and deep pockets open for traveling to beautiful and wild places with beautiful and wild people. These people had likely messaged Gendry. Was that why he wasn’t talking to her? Oh Jesus. Oh fuck. What the fuck. That’s no good, bad brain, bad thoughts.  
Arya stayed off of Instagram after that. 

Although perhaps the worst of it was when her anthropology classmates began their assignment and hangout rotation. One day, after Lommy had spent an hour trying to tutor Arya about Dothraki spiritual rituals and consequently got himself tutored by Arya on the subject, she’d burst out in hysterical laughter, seemingly at nothing. When her primary care nurse, Jane Westerling, asked what she was laughing at, Arya wiped the laughter tears from her eyes. 

“There is one fucking person I want to see from that class and with Lommy coming today, I’m back to the beginning of the rotation. I’m so fucked.” Jane had simply raised her brows as she helped her stand up from the chair and walk her over to the treadmill. 

“Not for another three weeks, honey. Fucking’s still on the no-no list of physical activity.” Jane said matter of factly as she turned the speed setting to 3 miles per hour, Arya glaring at her briefly. 

“Let’s just hope he’s still interested in three weeks.” She muttered as she tried hard not to wince at the dull pain beginning to throb in her side from the healing wounds. 

The two detectives, Brienne and Sandor (or Sandy, as several of his colleagues called him), had visited Arya several times over the course of her hospital stay. Their final visit was to inform her that they had found The Waif after street cam footage of the stabbing had been obtained and enhanced. Her real name was Faye Marsay, and this hadn’t been her first incident. Eight years prior, as a fifteen year old fleeing an unspeakably abusive household, Faye had turned to free, public martial arts lessons to stay protected on the streets, and her first stabbing had been one of self defense against a homeless junkie— at least, that’s what the jury believed. The DA had believed it too, and she’d instructed the ADA prosecutor assigned to her case to drop the charges. Jury members, lawyers, and detectives alike all described Faye as mild mannered, polite, timid, and shy. She was no violent criminal, and she was not a threat to society. 

The following year, within the second week of January, the same week that the first stabbing had occurred, she stabbed again. Only this time, she went underground afterwords. Police spent weeks searching for her, but she had disappeared without a trace. 

Her third stabbing got her caught and placed into the psych ward at a local mental rehabilitation center— local to the central Stormlands, that is. A psychologist who specialized in the effects of violent childhood trauma determined that Faye suffered from a particularly uncommon type of psychosis— one that occurred every year around the same time. The shrink theorized that some sort of violent act— a stabbing, most likely— had happened in her childhood home around that time frame before she’d fled. When she came out of the psychosis, she’d go into survival mode, covering her tracks and fleeing underground. Faye feared punishment and admonishment the way others feared the devil. The poor girl was as meek and harmless as a mouse for fifty one weeks of the year, yet the second week in January had yet to fail in delivering her into a state of violent psychosis. She spent four years in that Stormland psych ward— she became a favorite of the nurses, doctors, and staff there. She was always so kind and gentle, and often could be found tending to the garden, a task not allowed to the majority of the patients, what with the sharp and dangerous tools. With the help of talk therapy and psychiatric medication, Faye slowly but surely began to heal. When she was released on the second week of March as a twenty two year old woman, she decided to move to The Reach to pursue a career as a florist. 

She immediately joined a local martial arts group to make some connections and friends beyond that of her coworkers at the flower shop in the new city. Two months later, she found a note in her gym locker with an email address and password. The following Sunday, she sparred against a stranger in a crumbling old theater. 

Faye had been good about her meds for a time. But as time went on without episode or incident, she began to believe that she no longer needed the medication, and ceased to continue taking it. Three weeks later, in the second week of January, Faye Marsay fell into an episode of violent psychosis once again, and ended up stabbing Arya Stark outside of the House of Black and White. She had turned herself in after seeing the story on the news and was willing to talk on the condition that her former psychologist be present for all of her interviews. The man was flown in from the Stormlands immediately, and within twenty four hours, Faye Marsay was back in the mental rehabilitation center near the city of Storm’s End, and the charges against her were dropped on the condition that she stay under close watch at the psych ward. 

When she had finished reading the report, Arya had felt relieved and safe. Jaqen H’Ghar, the president to the Oldtown chapter of the order of the Faceless Men, who Arya had previously only known as The Kindly Man, had reached out to her personally to sincerely apologize for the tragedy that had befallen her after that fateful Sunday night’s meeting. He also informed her of a new policy enacted to all the chapters of the order worldwide; all new recruits would be undergoing a thorough background check from the chapter’s president, secretary, and recruitment teams to ensure that a tragedy such as this never happened again. 

Arya supposed that she should have felt proud for inspiring such change, although she really couldn’t find the energy to care. She had begun to focus all her energy on her schoolwork, making sure that when she returned to school, she would have no lack of knowledge of the subject matter, and perhaps she could use it to spark conversation between herself and Gendry once more. 

It was excruciating not hearing from him, nor seeing him at all. She found herself lying in bed one night, wishing on an eyelash that he would just fucking visit her before the silence and the absence could drive her crazy. 

It wasn’t until Valentine’s day in the afternoon that Arya finally got her wish fulfilled— in sorts. 

\+ 

The noon class on Valentine’s day finished as planned, and as soon as Selmy had dismissed his students, everyone seemed to bolt out the door. Those who weren’t going on romantic dates had fun days planned with their fellow single friends— either way, nobody was sticking around. Even Selmy went to pack up straight away, yet he didn’t rush it. 

“So Stan,” Selmy had recently begun to insist that Gendry call him by his nickname, ‘Stan’, so he decided to try it on for size. “Do you and the Mrs. have anything fun planned for today?”

“Oh yeah. Ally and I are going out to a fine dining restaurant for dinner and then we’re taking a gondola ride in the canals. Her brother Arthur used to actually find odd work as a gondola operator in the summers near Starfall in Dorne, where they grew up. What about you? Got any special plans for this Valentine’s Day, Mister _Sexy Savior?_ ” He asked with a chuckle. Gendry laughed as he slung his laptop bag over his shoulder and absentmindedly patted the outline of Arya’s gift against the leather. 

“Sort of. I’m going to visit Arya in the hospital. I haven’t seen her since the actual attack, and since none of the students are on rotation today, I figured she might enjoy some company.” _And also I’m thoroughly in love with her and really, truly, desperately need to see her before my soul shatters into a million little bits and pieces._ The professor’s expression softened with something akin to admiration as he paused before the stairway leading out to the hall. 

“You save her life, you stay up outside the OR all night with her siblings to ensure that she’s alright, you humbly reject the charity of the internet, and now you’re giving up your Valentine’s Day to spend it with your injured student in the hospital so she doesn’t have to spend it alone. You’re an admirable man, Gendry.” The professor said with the utmost sincerity, and as soon as he began to turn away, he spoke. 

“Not nearly as admirable as you think, professor.” He muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Selmy asked. 

“I said ‘Thank you and have a good one, professor.’” He said much louder this time. Selmy simply nodded with a light smile and a small wave before heading out the door. 

About forty five minutes later, Gendry gulped as he fidgeted with the strap of his computer bag outside of Arya’s recovery suite. No turning back. It was time to make things right. 

\+ 

Of fucking course she had to be taking a nap of all things when he finally fucking visited. A _nap._ She couldn’t have been in PT on the yoga ball or walking the treadmill, or swimming in the lap pool (man, it would’ve been a _lot_ sexier if she’d been swimming in the lap pool.) She was napping. In her bed. In her suite. She’d taken the last of her painkillers (a measly half dose) in the hopes that it would help her sleep through the day, the very worst day to be so hideously without him. And she woke up two hours later to the sound of him nervously clearing his throat. 

As Arya blinked open her eyes, an involuntary smile spreading wide across her face as her gaze settled on him. The painkillers she’d taken earlier had worn off, but her utter lack of alertness got the better of her as she rubbed her eyes and sat up. 

“Hey you,” She said, her voice still raspy from the nap as she quickly combed a handful of fingers through her hair in an attempt to look presentable in her tank top and sweats. 

“Hey,” He said, returning the nervous smile as he stood awkwardly at the foot of her bed, watching as she sat up, swung her legs over the edge of the mattress, and stood. Neither of them seemed to be able to find the courage to move for a couple seconds before Arya opened her arms and walked towards him, their former ease and familiarity seeming to have disappeared in the five weeks that they’d not seen one another. But once Gendry’s arms were around her waist and hers around his torso, he lingered, an unspoken and unresolved anxiety that he’d harbored since he last held her as she bled out on his stoop melting away like snow in the sunlight. He had irrationally feared that he’d never get to hold her again, but as she tightened her arms around him momentarily, Gendry knew that it would be okay. 

When they separated she gave him another smile, tucking her hair behind her ear and turning her face to the ground before stepping away to fix her bed, breaking the paused tension in the process. 

“So how have you been?” She asked, hoping that small talk would ease the awkwardness. It did not. 

“I’ve been alright. Things have been a bit, ah, _odd_ lately. I’ve become something of an internet joke.” He said with a nervous chuckle, scratching the back is his neck. She then looked back at him with a playfully knowing smirk. 

“Oh I’ve seen the memes, _Sexy Savior_.” She taunted, grinning as she did so, causing him to blush slightly. There was then a pause, an the weight of all that remained unsaid made itself terribly present until Gendry spoke up. 

“Arya, I never got to apologize for what I said that night.” Upon hearing this, Arya tried to brush it off. 

“You saved my life that night, Gendry, I think that more than counts as an apology.” 

“But it doesn’t.” He said. She shifted her weight a bit as she began to nod, crossing her arms over her chest, ready to hear what he had to say. “I said things that were not only utterly untrue, but just scathing. Cruel. I let my insecurity and jealousy get the better of me and I should’ve known that you’re not Bella. And it was wrong of me to act as though we were in a well defined relationship with any sort of boundaries. I shouldn’t have acted as if I owned you, and I shouldn’t have said any of the things that I said, and if I hadn’t, you might not have left my apartment that night, and you never would’ve been stabbed. The truth is, Arya, that I— I care about you, perhaps too much. And my selfishness and cruel treatment of you when I thought that I’d been scorned is the opposite of what it looks like to care for someone. So, in the spirit of the day, I wanted to give you something that I hope can reflect what caring truly looks like.” At this last sentence, Gendry reached into his leather bag and pulled it out— his grand gesture. He handed the gift wrapped in brown paper over to her and watched as she unwrapped it, furrowing her brows in confusion and perhaps disappointment as she saw what it was. 

“Gendry, this is the exact copy of the completed works of Poe that I gave you for Christmas. Are you—?” She began to ask, but he shook his head. _It’s not a rejection. It could never be a rejection._ She nodded, understanding just what he meant. 

“I’m sorry for recycling the gift— But I have changed it a bit. Take a look inside.” He suggested, and Arya raised her brows almost skeptically at him as she opened the book. 

She gasped straight away when she saw his grand gesture. Every line on every page that she flipped through had detailed and neat annotations, color coded and written in cursive lettering by hand. There were notes drawing conclusions on thematic meaning, on the use of language, motif, and everything else going on. All 1,000+ pages of this book all had at least a bit of handwritten annotations. She was astounded. She didn’t know what to say. 

“Gendry, I— This is just— Wow.” She exhaled, unable to tear her eyes away from the pages to see Gendry’s gentle grin. He remained standing there for a moment before stepping back. 

“I’m sorry it took me so long to visit. I’m sorry that I hurt you. Happy Valentine’s Day, Arya.” He said before leaving the suite and going back to his apartment to watch Audrey Hepburn movies and slowly get drunk on brown bottled beer all night long. 

\+ 

After standing motionless in her suite with her mouth hanging open for approximately thirty seconds after Gendry‘s abrupt exit, Arya managed to shake off her initial shock enough to walk back over to her bed and sit down cross-legged in the center, gently and reverently placing the fully annotated book of Poe down in front of her. Her mind was reeling with a thousand different thoughts, but she pushed them all aside as she flipped to Tamerlane, the epic poem that had started Gendry’s fascination with the odd storyteller. Arya was surprised to find two sheets of lined paper folded between the pages at the beginning of Tamerlane. Curious, she unfolded the paper and began to read the essay Gendry had handwritten on the margins. 

_Edgar Allan Poe’s epic poem, Tamerlane, has awed readers for nigh on two centuries with its surprisingly clever wit, thoroughly colorful language, and its ever-relevant motifs of longing and remorse. In studying this text, it can be said without a doubt that the analysis of the epic itself can only ever offer partial insights if the reader neglects to accompany that analysis with equally thorough research into the life of Poe at the time of Tamerlane’s publishing. After combining historical research into the nineteenth century Romantic who authored this work with the standard procedures of literary analysis, it can confidently be said that the message this epic bears remains utterly an relevant warning to those who wager their love and youth in pursuit of glory._

_In researching the life of Edgar Allan Poe, one would find themselves learning of turmoil of the Romantic’s early childhood, which will soon prove its utmost relevance and value in the context of uncovering the myriad of layers of hidden meaning in Tamerlane. When Poe was little more than one year of age, his father abandoned the family, leaving his uneducated mother with a sullied reputation and three children to raise. Eliza Poe worked tirelessly in the trades that she could to provide for her daughter and two sons, yet after contracting consumption, which is commonly known today as Tuberculosis, Eliza died and her children were separated amongst three different foster families. When Edgar was taken in by Frances and John Allan, a childless couple made rich by Virginia tobacco, most would think his troubles were over. Poe developed a close and loving relationship with Frances almost instantly, yet the bond he formed with that of John Allan was riddled with bitter conflict, petty argument, and an ever-present inability to understand the other. In the year of 1827, Poe was sent to the University of Virginia by his adoptive father to study business, in the hopes that one day he would be able to take over the Allan tobacco business. Yet Poe was sent with only a third of the funds necessary to carry on in a respectable manner, and when his father refused to send him any more money, Edgar resorted to gambling in an attempt to earn a bit of cash to get by. When this only sent him further into debt, Poe dropped out of the university with the intention of returning home to his fiancée, Elmira Royster, and starting work as a printer to earn money so they could start a life together. But when Edgar has gone away to study business, Elmira had gotten married to somebody else. It was during this time of paternal conflict, poverty, and heartbreak that Edgar has his first works published: Tamerlane and Other Poems. The poems were an instant success, and Poe quickly began earning back all the money he had lost and more. Yet the poem was originally published anonymously. It wouldn’t be for another ten years that Edgar publicly claim that work. The only author originally credited was ‘A Bostonian’. The epic tells the tale of a medieval conqueror giving his final confessions to a priest on this deathbed, and the remorse he felt for abandoning his first love in youth to pursue the riches and glory that ultimately left him with empty longing. Tamerlane, the narrator and conqueror, often sneers and insults the priest preforming his death rites, ridiculing him as dull, stupid, and old throughout the poem. Given the knowledge of Poe’s life at that point, we know the frustrated longing he felt to simply be understood by his miserly father, and the heartbreak he attributed to leaving Elmira to pursue a business education. Given that Poe’s adoptive father was infamous for refusing attempts to understand his son’s point of view, the reader can deduce that the poem was really a disguised plea to John Allan, written anonymously in the hopes that the grievances and points made might actually be taken seriously and that the father and son could begin to repair their broken relationship._

_The epic poem is an ode to youth and to love, and the flowery language used to communicate the narrator’s anguish and longing for days past is certainly reflective of this. In the epic, Tamerlane describes a woman whom he loved in his youth and regards the times they shared as the most sacred and joyful moments of his life. Many would see the way the conqueror speaks of this youthful love of his as a mark of Poe’s style as a Romantic, yet I would disagree. It is implied in the poem that the two had loved previously, perhaps casually, and despite their youth, were not so naive as to confuse mere infatuation with true and lasting love. The lovers came to one another by circumstance, and that was when the young man’s life was changed. Tamerlane tells of secret adventures they had shared, of the treasured sound of her laughter, and the unmatched sensation of holding a woman who always sought to understand. The woman in the poem was a representation of happiness lost— She was no Romantic ideal of the perfect woman. A Romantic would revere her as mysterious, unattainable, and the sole object of the protagonist’s constant desires— yet that isn’t the case here. The woman’s appeal came from the fact that she was not mysterious, but rather that she was understanding and open with her passions and histories, and that she was certainly not unattainable as she had already been his active lover. It was by Tamerlane’s own pride that the love they shared crumbled. She left his company when he became crass, their romance ended rather suddenly and horrifically when she nearly met her fate. The narrator describes having a lack of words to say to accurately communicate this time apart, only that she occupied his every thought during his every waking hour, and that her silhouette lurked in the corners of his dreams. Tamerlane had wanted her back, yet did not know of any show of affection that could tell her just how much light she had brought into his life. So he carried on without her, spending the rest of his days attempting to fill the space in his soul that she left with riches and glory and power._

_Tamerlane warns us never to take anyone’s love for granted. As much as it is a letter to John Allan, it is equally a letter to Elmira Royster. He had left her to pursue business education, and his consequential heartache gave us this ageless cautionary tale. He warns us that love is a privilege, one that can be easily and devastatingly revoked when abused with hubris and cruelty. Every now and then, a person will enter into your life and make it all the more beautiful, lighting up your world slowly over time, to the point that you only realize how plainly and thoroughly good your life as become when they are no longer a part of it, and the world goes grey once more._

When she’s finished reading the essay, Arya had hot tears streaming down her cheeks. Gendry hadn’t forgotten her— He’d just been afraid that he had ruined everything for good. As she wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her sleeve, Arya turned the page of the annotated book, noticing a highlighted line that had been underlined and commented on as well. 

**I have no words— alas!— to tell  
The loveliness of loving well!  
We grew in soul— and love— together,  
Roaming the forest, and the wild;  
And when the friendly sunshine smiled,  
O, she would mark the opening skies,  
I saw no Heaven, but in her eyes.**

The adjacent comment was written in Gendry’s handwriting, and it nearly made her heart thump straight out of her chest. 

_I’ve been trying to find the words for a while now— But this right here is it, Arya. These are the words I’ve wanted so badly to speak, but fear stops me every time. I’m afraid if I overstep, anything you may still feel for me will disappear. I figured this was the best way to tell you— maybe because I’m sentimental, probably because I’m a coward. I needed to tell you that I found the words to describe how I feel for you, even if it was just like this. I’m only sorry that a nineteenth century emo beat me to it._

As she sat there on her bed processing everything written on the page, Arya found herself becoming impatient. She stood up, ignoring the dull pain from her stitched up wounds as she did so and quickly began to back up the few belongings she had accumulated in her time at Citadel Central Hospital. Once her canvas messenger bag purse was packed, she took the world’s most efficient shower, making sure that despite her desperation to get things going, she still applied the anti-bacterial salve to her stitches and covered it with a series of bandages. When she came back into her suite, her primary care nurse, Jane was waiting on the rolling chair with her clipboard to complete her daily inquiry log for Arya’s recovery. This included questions about pain, discomfort, trouble with sleeping, eating, using the bathroom, etc. 

“Hey, there she is! Arya, I need you to—“ Jane began, but was quickly cut off. 

“Just mark that everything’s fine in the log, we need to talk.” Jane looked up at her warily, but did as she said. 

“What’s up, buttercup?” She asked, leaning in with her elbows rested on her knees. 

“I need you to release me from the hospital. Now.” Arya said. Jane looked taken aback as she leaned back in her chair and looked at her patient as though she was crazy. 

“Honey, you’re getting discharged tomorrow morning at 7:00. And besides, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t sign your release forms. I’m not your doctor, I’m your nurse, I don’t have the power to sign off on your wellness.” When Jane said this, Arya narrowed her eyes, deep in thought. 

“So don’t. Sneak me out of here and then say I left early when Dr. Ealing comes to sign my release forms tomorrow morning.” She said, causing Jane to laugh incredulously. 

“And why would I do that? Arya, that goes against at least ten hospital regulations. What’s so important that it can’t wait til morning?” Jane asked, arms crossed over her chest as she leaned back in the chair. 

“He came by today. The guy I’ve been waiting for this entire fucking time in the recovery ward came and visited me in my suite and he gave me this.” Arya tossed the annotated book of Poe into Jane’s lap, smacking the handwritten essay down as if to punctuate the gesture. The nurse studied both for a moment with furrowed brows before looking back up at Arya. 

“Oh my god, it’s like smut for the nerdy heart!” Despite the fact that she was being taunted, Arya nodded enthusiastically in confirmation. 

“Yeah, exactly. Look, I need to see him tonight. I’ve spent the past five weeks trapped in this hospital waiting for him to come around, thinking that I’d royally fucked everything up and I need to go make it right. He and I need to get our shit together and just _talk about it_. It’s Valentine’s Day, Jane. You know as well as I do that I’m not going to be getting any recovering done that’s so significant that my release from this anti-bacterial prison being pushed up about twelve hours would make any fucking difference. So if you can’t sign me out, sneak me out. As a medical practitioner, you swore an oath to do no harm. I’m as physically well as you can get me, but I’m shriveling up and dying inside, Jane. It would be more harmful to keep me here against my will and you know it. Just let me go so he and I can sort our shit out. Please.” Arya begged, searching her nurse’s brown eyes for any sign of resistance. Finally, Jane relented. 

“I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but the hallway that has the purple bathroom leads to stairwell D8. The security cameras are busted in both those places, so if you just take it, you’ll end up at a back foot exit. Just whatever you do, if you get caught, you did this on your own and never mentioned any of this to me. I simply came in here to complete your daily wellness inquiry log and nothing more. Got it?” Arya nodded and grinned as she hugged her nurse. 

“Thank you, Jane. Not just for this, but for keeping me sane in here. I’ll always appreciate you.” Arya whispered. Her nurse squeezed her once before letting go and promptly leaving the room. 

When Arya had successfully left the hospital, she hurried into the back of the uber that she’d called before getting on her way. The driver was named Tom Sevens in a silver Nissan Versa. She couldn’t quite shake the feeling of déja-vu as she climbed into the backseat, the driver starting on his way to Gendry’s apartment. 

When they arrived, she thanked the driver and tipped him perhaps a little too generously, but she was too excited and nervous to care. Arya considered buzzing Gendry’s apartment directly, but feared the repercussions of her calling over the intercom might have, given that wounds were literally still fresh. But she was given an out when a Doordash delivery man buzzed one of Gendry’s neighbors and let her go before him as soon as he was let in. 

So there she stood, in front of Gendry’s door once again, hoping that this time would be different. She rubbed the spot on her bag where she could feel the outline of the gift she had brought him, and drawing courage from that gift, she knocked on the door. 

\+ 

This year’s Valentine’s day for Gendry was perhaps the most significant, as he had confessed his true feelings to the love of his life via essay/annotation, yet he found himself celebrating in perhaps the least significant way; drinking beer on his couch as he marathoned old Audrey Hepburn movies in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved tee. The best he could hope for was a phone call from Arya, yet he knew that realistically, he’d be lucky to just get a text reading _Thanks_. 

So when he heard a knock at the door, he was especially shocked to see Arya, who had said that she wasn’t getting released until the next morning, standing in the hallway. 

“Hey Gendry. Can I come in?” She asked ever so casually. Gendry, speechless, nodded his head, stepping aside to let her step into the apartment, closing the door shut behind her. She stood in the middle of the living room, looking at him intently as he turned around to meet her gaze. 

“Hey, so, um—“ He began, but she cut him off. 

“I want it back.” She stated, only causing further confusion. 

“What?” He said, grateful that he had managed more than a mere _huh?_

“Your Mott’s shirt. I want it back.” She spoke quite matter of factly, as if she were making any sense at all. 

“Arya, what are you talking about?” He asked incredulously, still terribly confused. She then exhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a brief moment as if to emotionally prepare herself for what she was about to say. 

“You aren’t the only person who needed to apologize. The night that I was attacked, I told you that we weren’t in a relationship and that you had no right to be jealous be upset at the prospect of me fucking somebody else. But that wasn’t true. The truth is, I was angry, I was offended, but mostly, I was defensive. I didn’t want to take any responsibility for your assumption that I had fucked Mycah, but a large part of that misconception was my fault. I mean, it’s not like I was blissfully unaware of what those private cars are typically used for— it just didn’t occur to me that you could genuinely think that I’d want to do that with anyone other than you. So I didn’t say anything, and it blew up in my face.” Arya paused, perhaps to let Gendry take it all in, perhaps because she didn’t want to continue talking as she was grabbing something out of her purse— no, not something— _the red shirt_. “That night, I told you that our involvement meant nothing more than a couple of misplaced shirts. And despite the fact that when I said that, I fully believed it to be a lie, we have barely spoken in over a month. So, if the shirts were all that kept us together, I want it back, because I am thoroughly fuck-done spending my days without you in them.“ As Arya finished speaking, she held out the silky red spaghetti strap top to him, to which he put up a finger, signaling for her to wait as he hurried into his bedroom. 

When he returning several seconds later, Gendry was holding the Mott’s shirt, grinning incredulously as they took the shirts from one another. Then, as if acted upon by some invisible marionette, Arya and Gendry dropped the shirts in unison, her grabbing his face and him pulling her close to him by the small of her back, their lips crashing together in a kiss full of laughter and tears and longing finally satisfied. 

“God I missed you,” He whispered against her lips as he kissed her again, and again, and again, her skinny arms now wrapped around his neck while his large and calloused hands moved down her back to grab her ass, the combination of moves only working to bring them closer together. Gendry was getting hard now, he was sure Arya could feel it. He hadn’t realized just how badly he’d been wanting her back here, in his bed until that moment. Hell, he would want her on the couch, on the floor, against the wall, on the kitchen fucking table _where they eat_ , he didn’t care, he just wanted _her_. When Gendry hooked his fingers under the hem of her shirt and began to tug upwards, Arya did something rather unexpected— She pushed him away from her. 

“Gendry, I can’t.” She said, breathless and red cheeked. His stomach sank. 

“Oh god, I’ve fucked it up already. I didn’t mean to be presumptuous, Arya, I’m so sorry, I’m such a fucking tool—“ Gendry was nervous rambling now, but Arya cut him off. 

“Oh, god no, Gendry, it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I literally _can’t_. I won’t be cleared for sexual intercourse for another two weeks. It’s on my no-no list of physical activity.” At this, Gendry sighed heavily with relief, followed by a laugh. 

“Oh! Okay, great. That’s- That’s great, I thought I was being a dick.” He admitted, pulling her into a hug. She giggled at that, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head as he smiled. He was so fucking happy. When they pulled apart, Arya looked back up at him with a wicked and mischievous glint in her wide, grey eyes. 

“Although I do believe I’ve neglected to mention that any non-penetrative forms of sex are all still very much on the table.” She purred, palming his still-hard cock through his jeans. As if on reflex, he grabbed her by the wrist and brought it up to his lips, gently scraping his teeth across the pulse point before softly sucking a kiss there. 

“On the table, you say?” He whispered, his voice deep and husky. Her grey eyes widened with shock and excitement as he grabbed her legs just underneath her ass and lifted her up before swiftly sitting her down on his kitchen table. “Then by all means, my love, let me show you _just how much I missed you._ ” He growled the words against her lips, cupping her neck with one hand and undoing the button and zipper on her pants with the other. He briefly broke his lips away from hers to remove her t-shirt and sports bra. Once those obstacles were out of the way, Gendry began pressing several kisses across her jaw and against the sensitive pulse points on her neck, slowly laying her down against the cold wood in the process. She wriggled out of her pants, kicking them off along with her shoes as Gendry’s lips made their way down to her tits. She breathed heavy and shallow breaths as he teased her right nipple with the day old scruff on his upper lip before bringing it gently between his teeth, one hand holding her breast in place, the other hand working a gentle massage on the other breast. He moved over to the second nipple, sucking on it gently before biting ever so lightly, earning him a gasp of pleasure. When he moved his lips down further to the space between her ribs, his hands moved as well, holding her hips steady in preparation for the main event. He paused when he got to the scars, kissing them reverently, all lust gone for just a moment. It reminded her that she was more than sex to him. She was _everything_ to him. Arya took that moment to comb her fingers through his black hair affectionately, smiling in spite of herself. But as soon as each scar had been kissed, he moved down to her lower abdomen, just above her panties, tickling her skin with his sandpaper scruff before moving down and exhaling a hot breath over her center. She had goosebumps now, and was arching her back, attempting to buck up her hips to meet his mouth, but his steady hands held them faithfully down as he smiled against her inner thigh. 

“Patience is a virtue, my love.” He whispered in between kisses on her inner thighs. Arya would have screamed _Fuck patience, JUST EAT ME OUT ALREADY!_ if she hadn’t _really_ liked the way he called her _my love_. She opted for whine-like moans instead, which seemed to do the trick as he pressed a gentle kiss right to her clit, the lace fabric of her panties obstructing her further pleasure, yet _thank fucking god,_ Gendry was quickly pulling them down off of her hips and off her legs, tossing them to the side. He then gave no warning as he began sucking hard on her clit, only pausing occasionally to tongue-fuck her hole, relishing in everything that was so beautifully _her_ in that moment. From the smell of her sweat to the taste of her juice to the shaking of her legs to the way she grabbed a fistful of his hair as if she were holding on for dear life, Gendry loved it all so fucking much. When he brought her to orgasm, she was gasping and moaning, punctuated with a single _fuck_ when he brought his head back up to hers. He cupped his hand around her neck again as she pressed a desperate kiss to his lips. 

“Worth the wait?” He asked with a grin. She scoffed as she pulled him forward for another kiss. 

“ _Fuck_ the wait. I don’t want to wait another day in my goddamnmotherfucking life for you ever again.” She said against his lips. He chuckled before standing back up and grabbing the clothes that she had come in with off the floor. 

“Here, lets get you decent before I lose control altogether.” He said, tossing her clothes back to her and chuckling. She grinned and playfully kicked him in the thigh as she began dressing. 

“So, what do you want to do to celebrate Valentine’s Day?” Arya asked once she was fully dressed again, wrapping her arms around Gendry’s waist. He tilted her chin upwards as he pressed a chaste and gentle kiss onto her lips before stopping to think about it. 

“What if I took you out to a cute little restaurant infrequently frequented by OU students and staff and we had a nice, albeit a bit late, dinner?” Arya grabbed his wrist to check the time on his yellow digital watch. It was 7:28 PM, still early enough for a late dinner. 

“That sounds absolutely perfect.” She grinned as she stood up on her tip-toes to give him one last kiss before sliding her shoes back on her feet, grabbing her purse, and hand in hand, they left the building for what was technically their first ever date. 

\+ 

They hadn’t talked about Arya staying overnight, but Gendry didn’t question it when they got back to his apartment and she slipped into a pair of his boxers and one of his t-shirts. Nor did Arya question it when Gendry opened a fresh toothbrush for her and placed it next to his own on the sink. They decided that for the sake of Arya’s health, they would be good and they wouldn’t have sex until she’d been given the all-clear from her doctors. That night they had simply cuddled one another until they both fell asleep. 

The next morning when Arya woke up to find the yellow digital watch around the wrist of the muscled arm that embraced her, she smiled at it before pressing a gentle kiss to Gendry’s knuckles. She left before he woke up, only this time she left a note. 

_Good morning my Sexy Savior,_

__

_Left back to my dorm so as to not freak out Gilly— I’ll see you in class! (fucking finally)_

_Much luv,  
Arya_

Gendry ended up smiling all the way to work that morning. 

He arrived before she did, but he didn’t mind. He knew he would be seeing her soon. And sure enough, at 8:58 AM with two minutes to spare, Arya walked through the open door of the classroom, instantly getting cheers, applause, and the odd hug from her classmates. She even got a handshake from Selmy, and from Gendry as well, which they both laughed about later. 

“Welcome back, Arya. We’re all so proud of and impressed by your recovery. It’s good to have you back.” Selmy had said with the utmost sincerity. She had smiled brightly and thanked him. Then, as she sat down at her seat in the middle of the front row, Arya shrugged off her jacket, revealing a ridiculously oversized grey shirt with the words **Mott’s Auto Shop** written across the front. 

“Say, Arya, where did you get that shirt?” Gendry asked, trying not to smile too hard in a manner that would give him away, and failing. He didn’t care anymore. Arya looked down at her shirt as if to check what she was wearing, if only out of habit or saving face. 

“My boyfriend gave it to me.” She said, grinning like a cat as he nodded. 

“Well it looks very good on you.” They exchanged a final knowing look, their relationship a hilarious little inside joke, before Gendry instructed the students to take out their laptops and open up their notes as the lecture was about to begin. 

Almost immediately, Arya noticed two new iMessages from Megga Tyrell pop up on her laptop. 

**Megga:** _Omg Arya_  
**Megga:** _Did Waters just hit on you????_

Arya looked up once more at her boyfriend sitting behind the desk as the professor began his lecture, his bright blue eyes meeting her grey. She grinned before turning her attention back to her screen. 

**Arya:** _I have no idea what you’re talking about._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I just want to say HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has commented, given kudos, bookmarked, etc. I look through this stuff all the time and it makes me so happy that you guys genuinely like what I’ve created. Writing this work has reminded me how much I love this ship and the people I share the ship with— Gendrya stans, y’all are the best. Also sorry for dragging like all of twitter in this chapter😂 Anyways, I’m gonna miss this fic so much but thank you all SO MUCH for your love and support and encouragement- I adore you all:)))


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The epilogue in which Arya and Gendry fuck, and then they prepare to introduce Gendry to Arya’s parents.

It seemed that Arya somehow always managed to wake up before Gendry, which she absolutely loved. She liked to fuck with him in the morning, on occasion. It was one of the few times that she had the sexual upper hand, what with the morning wood leaving him entirely at her mercy. It was June 14th, a Sunday, and they would be meeting her parents for brunch in three hours time. It would be Gendry’s first time meeting her parents, and he’d been fretting about it all week, meaning that they had both become situationally celibate. Gendry said that he was afraid that they’d be able to sniff out any and all sexual activity and instantly hate him. She told him that they’d gotten over her having sex when they walked in on her and her high school boyfriend, Leo, in the attic when she was sixteen. He said maybe that was why she and Leo broke up, because she subconsciously knew that her parents could never accept him into the family after that. She told him it was because they graduated. He told her that he was still too cautious. She scoffed and called him a wimp. He smiled and kissed her.

On that particular morning, Arya could tell by the slow rise and fall of Gendry’s chest pressed against her back that that he was still asleep. The alarm clock across the room read 7:47am. She grinned as she began to slowly grind her ass against her boyfriend. Within several seconds, she could feel him beginning to wake up to his cock crowing, and only two seconds after that, he began to stir.

“Aryaaa,” He groaned, just waking up. She bit down on her lower lip, trying not to smile _too_ hard as she kept rubbing her backside against his hardening dick. Finally, he began to respond, moving his large hand from her stomach down to her hips, him encouraging this motion by pressing her into him. Arya then, in one swift motion, pushed Gendry onto his back and straddled him. She leaned down to give him a quick kiss before tossing off the white undershirt of Gendry’s that she’d been wearing to bed. She never wore underwear to bed these days, so once the obstacle of the shirt had been thrown out of the way, she was completely naked.

“Jesus fucking christ,” Gendry moaned as she rolled against him, what with him now fully awake as he gripped onto her hips.

“Good morning, bull.” She said with a grin as she slipped a deft hand into his boxers to free his cock of the fabric, yet she paused once she had him in her hands. “Do you want me to keep going?” She asked, momentarily pausing her playful fuckery for a few seconds of sincerity before he gave a deep belly laugh.

“ _Fuck_ yes, I want you to keep going!” He laughed, returning the mischievous grin to her face.

“Maybe I should keep you waiting a bit longer. You know, I think you might have a point about my parents, I think they might be able to sniff out sex like some sort of perverted breed of bloodhounds—“

“Jesus fucking Christ, Arya!” He groaned, earning a giggle from her as she slipped him inside. They both sighed at the sensation, the relief of a week’s worth of sexual holdout escaping their lips as they began to move. She rolled her hips as he bucked his, their movements going in perfect synchronization even as he sat up, kissing her with a passion. He trailed his pointer finger along the length of her spine as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, as if she were hugging him. His free hand rested on her ass as he pressed lazy kisses along her collarbones, neck, and shoulders. She shuddered as she felt his sandpaper scruff against the skin of her chest, relishing in the feeling of him utterly inside her, moving, touching, fucking, kissing. Their life together was already great, but their sex together made it fantastic. They moved together, hurriedly, lazily, easily, speeding up at they approached the end. Arya leaned back, tossing her head back as Gendry latched his lips around her nipple, nipping and kissing gently as she sighed, clenching herself around his cock, earning a moan from him. He detached from her breast before kissing her, hugging her close to his body as they both came. They rode out the orgasm, and once they were done, sweating and panting and grinning, she rolled off of him and stretched.

“Thank you for giving up your purity strike, Gendry. I quite enjoyed that.” She purred as she grabbed her discarded white t-shirt and pulled it over her naked body. The time on the alarm clock read 8:13, so she opened the drawer of her nightstand and took her birth control.

“Well thank _you_ for initiating. I’m gonna take a shower, wanna join me?” He asked as she turned back around to face him.

“Very fucking obviously, yes.” She said, kissing him quickly as he chuckled. He laughed before standing up, discarding his boxers in the bathroom and starting the water as Arya walked over behind him, discarding her t-shirt once again.

The shower wasn’t for any sexual purposes. He shampooed her hair while she shaved her legs. They’d tried sex in the shower before, yet somehow the water made it feel more dry? They’d been showering together mainly for the water bill, which had reduced significantly since she’d officially moved in after his graduation. When he wasn’t working in a local body shop as a mechanic getting his hands dirty, he was looking into Oldtown University’s PhD program so he could get his doctorate in anthropology and begin doing fieldwork with the Westerosi Anthropological Association. Once they were thoroughly cleaned up, Gendry turned off the water and he dried her hair with a towel, both of them having gotten into bathrobes. She passed him his toothbrush, he thanked her, and they began brushing their teeth in unison. Once they had both spit into the sink, Arya grabbed Gendry’s shaving cream and razor, sitting up on the sink to face him. He smiled lazily as she rubbed the white foam onto his jaw, neck, and cheeks. She liked shaving him, something he discovered three weeks after Valentine’s Day when she’d expressed that he really needed to shave before she’d be seen out with him. To that, he responded that he sure fucking hoped that they wouldn’t be seen out together. She’d laughed.

“Alright, last minute questions before I meet your parents.” Gendry started as his girlfriend carefully dragged the razor across an inch wide strip of his throat.

“Mmhmm?” She responded, pausing to clean the razor.

“So they know I was your TA.” He said. This wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” She affirmed, moving onto the next strip of throat. Gendry paused to allow her to shave before speaking again.

“And do they know that we’re living together?” He asked. She furrowed her brows as she worked, thinking it over.

“Uhhhh, probably? They know I’ve been living with _someone_ in Oldtown, and they know I’m serious enough about you to introduce you to them over Sunday brunch, so I don’t doubt that they’ve put two and two together.” Gendry nodded as she cleaned the razor again.

“Okay. And do they know that we were involved before my graduation?” He asked, to which Arya scoffed.

“Abso-fucking-lutely not, and I intend to keep it that way for as long as possible. At least until they get to know you better, and it’s been given enough time that it can become a laughing matter.” He shrugged as he nodded, causing Arya to nearly nick the skin of his jaw. She nudged him in the ribs with her knee for it.

“Okay, so let me get this straight. It’s been five weeks since I officially stopped being your teacher. And if we’re to continue the charade that I’m a proper gentleman, I’m going to have to convince them that in five weeks time, we developed a mutual interest, saw each other enough to realize that we like hanging out, started dating, and moved in together. What am I gonna say when they ask how we first became involved?” Arya was done with a third of his face and neck at this point, but this made her pause, a look of confusion, deep thought, and amusement on her face.

“Maybe we just don’t talk about it.” She suggested, to which Gendry laughed.

“I’m sure that’ll work wonders for us, my love.” He chuckled as he leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.

They were so fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Happy New Year!!!  
> I’M SO SAD THAT THIS IS OVER😭😭😭 But seriously, thank you guys for all your love and comments and kudos. Thank you to everyone who’s popped over to my tumblr, thank you to everyone who had recommended this fic, thank you to all of you for simply reading it. Your support has meant the world to me.  
> And some good news! I am continuing this universe with a sequel that focuses around Ella Waters, Gendry’s mother, and it takes place shortly following this epilogue and bounce back and forth throughout her life from childhood to teenage years to her young adulthood to the present day. I’m very excited! It is called “Maybe I’ll Just Forget About You” bc you know I gotta continue the maybe theme;) AND I have finally gotten onto a real computer to put the works together in a series!  
> Happy new year and I love you all!!!


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